PWD

November 11th, 2004

My uncle Peter died. He had a voice like Alan Rickman and he was very prickly and rude, very dry and sly, and fucking funny. He looked Byronic and wore a heavy silver bracelet. He thought the Bodyform advert was funny and he used to scream “Waaah, Bodyform!” in the cafe where he waited for his magazine contacts. He edited a magazine in Penzance, which was like a decent version of the Private Eye, and my dad and I had a page in it called “Believe it or Don’t!”
A local newspaper has published an obituary for him, which follows.

The journalist Peter Wright-Davies, who published the Peninsula Voice magazine during the late ’80s and early ’90s, has died aged 65.
He had worked as a reporter on a number of newspapers in the Midlands before moving to West Cornwall.
A former colleague writes:
“Peninsula Voice had been started up in 1982 as an ‘alternative magazine’ by a co-operative of local writers and artists.
“It had always been an entertaining mix of serious reporting, humour, reviews, profiles and comment, attracting talented writers, photographers and cartoonists – but when Peter took it over in late 1987 he added his own brand of investigative journalism.
“He was tireless in exposing injustice and corruption in public life. Several of the stories he broke were followed up by the national media but, while he was always generous in promoting the work of Voice contributors, Peter never gave himself a name by-line, usually signing off modestly with PWD.
“During the years he ran the Voice, PWD was not only its publisher and chief reporter, he was also the magazine’s compositor and distributor.
“The circulation figures were always a closely guarded secret, known only to Peter and Headland printers, but it was generally reckoned that many times more people read it than bought copies.
“One role that PWD was reluctant to claim was that of editor, vowing that an editor was something he could never be – the necessary caution and compromise being anathema to him.
‘Publish and be damned’ was always Peter’s style.
“Unfortunately, it was sometimes a case of publish and face the threat of legal action. The bills eventually helped kill off Peninsula Voice.
“However, Peter was, rightly, proud of his achievement in exposing scandals while keeping the magazine going for so long – and he was living proof that Dr Johnson got it wrong when he said: ‘No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money’.
“The Voice never made any money. PWD wrote because he believed passionately that his readers deserved the whole truth, or at least, as much of it as he could dig out – and he was a very shrewd and honest reporter.
“Peter was a character of intriguing contrasts.
“Although his journalism made him a well known figure to countless people across Cornwall, he was a very private man, living quietly near Newlyn with his wife Caroline, to whom he was devoted.
“Although he could be merciless in taking public figures to task in print, privately his comments about them were often surprisingly kindly.”