Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Peter Wherrett dies of cancer aged 72

Pioneering motoring journalist and television personality Peter Wherrett has died after battling cancer for the past year.

Wherrett, who co-wrote and presented the popular motoring program Torque in the 1970s died on Monday aged 72.

His second wife Lesley Brydon told AAP that Wherrett was a natural in front of the camera and adored cars and working on the program.

"It was his lifeblood," she said.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to see him go, too young at 72.

Funny how memory works, while I remember a lot of things about him, the one that crops up every time I hear his name is, the way he described a front seat of a car he was reviewing as "comfortable as a lounge seat, but not as a car seat".
Wonder what make and model it was?

Sorry about the trivia kae.

Orion

kae said...

Trivia's fine Orrie!

My Dad used to love watching Torque... he enjoyed the programme.

Anonymous said...

I best remember Peter Wherrett as the presenter of Torque, the Top Gear of the 70s. I watched a lot of the episodes, even though I was too young to drive for most of the series. Also read some of his motoring books. This certainly brings back memories. How sad to read of his passing.

Peter was also an Old Boy of you know where. RIP.

Egg said...

He certainly left his Marque ...

Anonymous said...

So sad to hear that Peter has gone.

He was a good and decent man, and an excellent advanced driver trainer. I did quite a lot of training at his school. Loved it.

You should have seen him quietly strip the egos of the young bucks who made the mistake of showing off or hooning during training. They fell into line or it was the old heave ho.

I was sickened to see the juvenile sneering from some on TB's blog. Pathetic.

Vale, Peter.

Sandi

kae said...

Hi Stevo, where ya been?

Hi Egg, yes, he did.

Hi Sandi, how are ya?
I had forgotten about Peter's private life - I guess that shows how important it was to me! It harmed noone as far as I can tell.

Boy on a bike said...

I have his autobiography somewhere - an excellent read. Or should that be auto-biography?

One of the original intelligent petrol-heads.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kae

Peter was an influential man in his time, writing, driving and racing. I did make a comparison to Top Gear, but only because I was asked to watch Top Gear once. Peter was ahead of his time. He also had a famous sibling, Richard, his brother was to the Arts what Peter was to Motoring. Capital M.

I'm still here. Read daily. Don't watch telly. The girlfriend is now reading the blogs including yours.

Cheers ... Stevo