Over the years, Peter attended hundreds of parties and events. This on-going section will tell the stories behind some of his adventures…

Please scroll down for the latest additions.

The Isle of Wight Festival – August 1970

Peter and friend enjoying the music (see page 195 of ‘Peter Wyngarde: A Life Amongst Strangers‘.

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Peter at the Department S launch party, 1969

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Peter with actress, Madeline Smith, at an event at the Grosvenor Hotel in London, 1973

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Peter in London with his Norwegian girlfriend – model, Elisabeth Skjortekjole

In the gardens behind Peter’s home in Earl’s Terrace, London

And a candid photo of Peter and Elisabeth in Berlin, 1971

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A SURPRISE ENCORE WITH A CUDDLE FROM THE KING

The London Evening News – Thursday, 10 October, 1973

Backstage after all the congratulations from people like Cicely Courtneidge, who looks upon herself as a second mother to Sally Ann Howes, the stars exchanged presents.

He, using a line from the script, gave her a large model elephant. “I think it’s brought us both good luck”, he told her.

She, remembering that the King wears glasses in the show, gave his a pair of Georgian spectacles. Said TV’s Jason King: “When I get the lenses taken out , I will wear them in future performances”.

Both of them went on to a series of parties to mark the opening. There were public ones and private celebrations. Peter got to two of them but missed a third. “With a matinee due today,” he said, “I felt I had to sleep some time”.

It was his first West End musical, and he was at the theatre early to mentally adjust himself from London to Siam – leaving one world for another.

“It was wonderful hearing the adulation for the music,” he said. “I was so nervous that I must’ve gargled a hundred times before going on stage.

“But it was exhilaration rather than fear. My last words to Sally were, “look into my eyes while we’re out there.”

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Opening night of ‘Oh, Calcutta!” at The Roundhouse, Camden, London – Monday, 27th July 1970

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Taken in a park in a park off the Edgeware Road in London, Peter celebrates the revival of Roger’s and Hammerstein’s ‘The King and I’ on June 8th, 1973. Behind him is his Co-Star, Sally Anne Howes, and a selected number of his 108 Royal Children.The cast and orchestra of 60 played in Leeds, Southsea, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Hull and Manchester before opening in London in October 1973.

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The London Evening Standard – Thursday, 21st September, 1972

Actor Peter Wyngarde, star of the television series Jason King, and singer Dana Gillespie were among guests who fled a fire early today at a Piccadilly nightclub.

Firemen, some wearing breathing apparatus, rescued five people trapped by the flames. The rescue was hampered because firemen were unable to get their appliances into Mason’s Yard, off Jermyn Street, to tackle the blaze at the three-story Music Workshop Club. But after dragging an escape ladder across the yard, they rescued two men from the roof and helped three others from the top floor flat down an internal staircase.

Lee Jackson, a 25-year-old flautist with Jackson heights, was playing at the club when the alarm was raised. He said: “We had just finished our set when the manager yelled fire, but he’s known as a practical joker, so we ignored him.”

Peter Wyngarde, who was unhurt in the blaze said: “I smelt smoke, so raised the alarm and left.”

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In 1973, whilst Peter was on a promotional tour of Germany and Austria, he took a couple of days off to go skiing in Switzerland.

Whilst there, he met a group of underprivileged British kids and their teacher, who’d been taking on by a charity. As a kindly gesture, he paid for the group to go up the mountain by cable car.

Julia Young, who was then part of the class told the Hellfire Club recently: “I met Peter when I was on a charity skiing trip in Switzerland. He wanted to do something for our group and tried to arrange skiing lessons but his PR people wanted to big up the charity angle and he refused. Instead he arranging sleighs to take us to his hotel, and he had a tea party for us in the lobby. Such a wonderful, kind and generous man. He gave me hope that celebrities can be nice people as well”.

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Anne wore full theatrical costumes. His comprised of a knee-length velvet Kimono with a cloak trimmed with gold braid, a 900-year old Moroccan bracelet and clogs.

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Each of the stars of the film went to a premier in different cities around the world. Peter was chosen to attend the New York showing.

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See the entire ensemble that Peter was wearing at the premier HERE

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MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY FOR CHARLIE CHAPLAIN

There was a standing ovation for Charlie Chaplain at the charity premier of ‘Modern Times’ ay the Paramount Theatre on Saturday, 19th February, 1972.

Peter commented to waiting pressmen that he thought the power cuts which had plagued Britain that particular year were made all the more ironic after attending the premier: “Many a true word is spoken in jest,” he quipped.

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Here Peter is seen with the actress, Ann Lynn, on 4th July, 1969, at a theatre gala in London. On seeing this photo’ some years later, Peter couldn’t believe he could ever wear such a shirt, let alone allow anyone to photograph him in it!!!

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Peter enjoying a drink and a chat with theatrical empresario (Sir) Peter Hall and the latter’s second wife, Jacqueline Taylor.

STOP PRESS!

Peter with Austrian actress, Antonia Reininghaus, at the premier of ‘Alten Simpl’ (Montag/Dienstag, 31 October 1977).

Peter pictured with Verity Lambert at the 1961 World premiere of ‘Too Late Blues’, which starred Bobby Darin and Stella Stevens.

Peter with lady friend, Margit Rieti

Peter with fellow actor, Stanley Baker, at the Annual Variety Club dinner – November, 1973

The Duke of Gloucester chats with Peter and Delia Sainsbury backstage at the Theatre Royal, Bristol, on Tuesday, 10th September, 1974, after a performance of ‘Present Laughter’. With them is Charles Clarke, the theatre’s owner. The Theatre Royal had chosen.

‘Present Laughter’ to re-open their splendid Georgian theatre of September 9th, following a summer refurbishment.

The Duke, who was the guest of honour at the ‘black-tie’ occasion, joined invited guests of the management and company at a champagne party on stage after the show.

There were many civic dignitaries from Bath, Bristol and elsewhere to lend importance to the occasion, which brought hopeful signals for a new and profitable lease of life for the grand old theatre.

N.B. Apologies for the quality of the photo’, as it has come from a newspaper and hasn’t copied well. However, I thought you’d rather see it as is as opposed to not at all.

First Broadcast: March 9th, 1969

The script is bound in a handsome light-blue folder with the Department S logo printed in black in the lower left corner. The episode title, Six days, is printed on the middle of the cover.

Inside the cover are 88 pages of different colours; 51 white, 33 pink, 3 blue and 1 yellow. The different colours signify changes and revisions, common practice in the TV and film business.

The first page of the script has the Department S logo printed in red and the typed message: The Series Created by: Monty Berman and Dennis Spooner. 

Page two has “Six Days” Screenplay by Gerald Kelsey, and Kelsey’s autograph.

Page 3 says:

• Produced by Monty Berman
• Script Supervision by Dennis Spooner

A Scoton Production, A.B.P. Elstree Studios, Boreham Wood. Herts. Elstree 1600.

Page 4 presents us with the cast list, divided into Principals, Supporting and Extras.

Page 5 is the set list, divided into Studio interiors, Car Interiors, Studio Lot, Locations, Stock and Process shots. The latter are specified for scenes 51, 58, 60, 62, 67 and are all back projection for car interiors.The script proper begins on page 6.

The last three pages of the script are blue which shows that the end had been changed, it also states that scenes 154, 155, 156, 157 and 158 are deleted. If anyone has any idea what the original ending was supposed to be I would be grateful for any information.

On the first of the three blue pages someone has written Rosemary Nichols, a sign maybe that the pages I now have were originally intended for her. On the back of the last page of the script are a lot of handwritten stuff, indicating that the script was perhaps used by the second unit director. This is likely since they concern location shoots at Heathrow Airport. Apart from lists of scenes to shoot it says that lunch break is between 12:30 and 1:30. It also has some instructions for establishing shots using Sullivan’s double for Episode 7, “One of Our Aircraft Is Empty”, that obviously were shot at the same time.

When comparing the script to the episode we all know and love I found that all actors followed the scripted dialog almost to the letter with one exception… a certain Peter. Almost all his lines appear differently on tape than they do in the script. I can only add that the Jason King in the script is a great deal more boring than the one we see on screen, this is probably further proof that the character was modelled on, and by, Peter himself! In the following I will not point out very small differences, no doubt adapted by actors to make the dialogue flow more naturally, I will however present the more significant changes made by Peter.

The pre-credit sequence follows the script almost slavishly as does the beginning of the episode up to scene 27 which occurs immediately after Sullivan has driven Seretse to London. In the script two scenes follow that are not in the finished episode. Since one of them includes the first glimpse of our hero I chose to present them “in extencio”.

Act two begins with Sullivan meeting Seretse outside the embassy. Look carefully at this scene and you will notice that the man getting out of the car and coming up to the Rolls is not Joel Fabiani, but a double. The scenes with Sullivan in the car are all shot in the studio using back projection.

We now come to the scene between Jason and Annabelle in Pecks’ office. A comparison may prove interesting.

From here on everything is as scripted to the end of Act 2, except the scene where Annabelle plays back the tape from Italy. The sequence on the film has been shortened compared to the script.

The third act begins with the office scene. It runs very much as scripted, the changes in dialogue seem to have been done on the spot to make the dialogue flow better. The scene between Sullivan and Seretse that follows is missing in the script which goes directly to the scene in Hallet’s study. It does pop up later as we will see; it has probably been moved up for better dramatic effect.

Durres and Walsham are very good at following the script in the apartment scene that follows, but when we cut to the car interior Annabelle (!) surprises by leaving a whole line out; she says “Think of my reputation!”. In the script she adds “Looks bad when a girl chases men”.

She is back in good form however in the following scene in Walsham’s apartment following the script to the letter. In the brief cut-away to Hallet however, there is a small difference; The papers he is photographing reads top secret on the right hand page and AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on the left. The script says it should be TOP SECRET ANGLO AMERICAN NAVAL TREATY (MEDITERRANIAN BASES). When we cut back to Annabel the Bank of Switzerland statement shows a balance of 444.000 Sfr, the script says £37.000. The last “in” entry on screen is 120.000fr the 17 -7-68, in the scripts it is £10.000 on the 17 of the month.

During the conversation between Annabelle and Janet a bit of dialogue is missing starting immediately after the cut-away to Jason in the car. It looks like this has been cut out to save time and the picture of Jason inserted instead to avoid a jump-cut. This missing piece of dialogue goes like this:

• After Annabelle has left the apartment the script has the scene between Sullivan and Seretse discussed above. The next scene, between Jason and Annabelle in the car is very different:

INT. KINGS CAR. NIGHT. STUDIO. (BACKING) KING IS AT THE WHEEL AS THE DOOR OPENS AND ANNABELLE, STILL WEARING THE WIG, GETS IN.

ANNABELLE DRAGS OFF THE WIG.

The rest of the act is as scripted apart from Walsham’s last line on screen which isn’t in the script.

Act four contains one of the highlights of this episode. After the questioning of Janet and the brief shot in Hallet’s library we are on the street, looking into King’s car. As the script says Annabelle is at the wheel. Later when the car pulls out from the curb and drive past the camera King is driving. In the close-up where King says He’s stopping! (in the script it’s Annabelle who says it) Annabelle is back in the driver’s seat. As the car stops and King jumps out the worst double in the business is used, he doesn’t look anything like Mr Wyngarde!

From here on everything is as scripted except Jason King’s (and the episodes) last line which in the script reads:

Me (THEN) I think it’s time I went back and finished my novel…

With grateful and sincere thanks to Anders Edenholm.

More about Department S…

Broadcast: Saturday, July 14th, 1962

Character: Captain Martin Barton

Some Background

Out Of This World was the brainchild of Canadian, Sydney Newman, and Irene Shubik as a spin-off of the highly successful Armchair Theatre series of plays (1956-1974).

The run of 14 episodes, all of which were hosted by the legendary horror star, Boris Karloff, began on 24th June, 1962 and featured stories from some of the best sci-fi writers of the day, including Issac Asimov, Terry Nation, John Wyndham and Philip K. Dick.

‘Cold Equations’, was based on a short story by American science-fiction writer, Tom Goodwin, which was first published in ‘Astounding’ magazine back in August of 1954. This ABC production, which became the third episode proper of ‘Out Of This World’, was the first time the tale had been put onto film, although several adaptations have since followed.

Broadcast in July of 1962, the episode was destroyed* in the late 1960’s but, thankfully, an amateur recording of the play was made on the night of broadcast and preserved on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. That soundtrack was latterly obtained by the British Film Institute, who restored and digitalised it.

The episode, which was directed by Peter Hammond, was filmed at Teddington Studios in London in early 1962. At a duration of 49-minutes, the drama was divided into three acts and shown in a one-hour slot at 10pm on Saturday, 14th July, 1962. At the time of broadcast, Peter said that there’d evidently been a lot of advances in space travel and rocket technology since the B-movies of the 1950’s: “I needed none of the spacesuits and paraphernalia used by the astronauts of today,” he told the TV Times. “I just wore a plain black jumpsuit throughout.

The Story

When the scientists of a research unit on the planet Woten report that they’re all suffering with symptoms relating to the deadly Kala Fever Stardust, the nearest Earth vessel to the planet, readies a one-man Emergency Dispatch Ship (EDS) to rush serum to the technicians.

Since the incubation period of the disease is just 24 hours from the first symptoms appearing until death, nothing is left to chance when preparing the ship for its 80,000 mile mission of mercy. Every gram of equipment; each mile of its journey, has been worked out according to the most minute physical and mathematical specifications.

Left: Peter as Captain Barton discovers a stowaway on his ship

Captain Martin Barton (Peter Wyngarde), who has been chosen to carry out the mission, runs through his pre-flight checks, and when satisfied that all is in order, requests permission from the Stardust to depart.

Only a short time into his journey, the Captain notices an abnormal reading on his control panel, and immediately reports back to the Mothership that there’s been a 20oC rise in the temperature of the Supplies Locker. Personnel on the Stardust initially suppose that the anomaly has been caused, either by the EDS’ jets during take-off, or from a circuit failure. Since both these theories are highly unlikely, Barton rebuffs them – reasoning that there can be only one other cause of such an acute temperature change: he has a stowaway on-board.

Directly, Barton approaches the Locker and demands that the interloper show his or herself. He’s stunned when, after a brief pause, a teenage girl appears from between the storage racks to give herself up.

The youngster introduces herself as Lee Cross (Jane Asher), and when Barton demands to know what she’s doing on-board, she tells him that she just wanted to see her brother, Gerry, who’s part of a government survey crew based on Woten for the past decade. The 18-year-old, a newly qualified linguist, tells Barton that she’d been travelling on the Stardust to the planet of Mimir, where she’d recently secured a new job, and had slipped onto the EDS when no one had been paying attention.

Barton is furious, not least at the girl’s somewhat flippant attitude towards her situation – her response to his fury being to enquire if she might be required to pay a fine.

Right: Peter sitting at the Controls of EDS 34GII and, (centre), Jane Asher.

When he asks if her brother is aware of her new position on Mimir, she tells him that he’d been informed weeks earlier by Spacegram. Barton’s anger is swelled still further when he’s latterly told that Gerry is due to be posted to Mimir the following year. Why, the Captain demands, had she taken such a risk to board his ship when she would see her brother in a few months’ time anyway?

Lee, who until now had been oblivious to the trouble she was in, apologies profusely to Barton who, for now, has returned to the pilot’s chair. Lee notices that there’s been a sudden increase in speed, and enquires why. The Pilot reveals that since the ship is now carrying additional weight, he may not have enough fuel on-board to reach his destination.

Barton flicks a switch on his communicator and signals Stardust. He asks to speak with Commander Delhart (Peter Williams), in the vain hope that he might have a solution to the dilemma currently facing him. Delhart, however, bluntly reminds Martin of Paragraph L, Section 8 of the Interstellar Regulations relating to stowaways on Emergency Vessels: that any such person must be jettisoned immediately.

On hearing this, Lee becomes hysterical, as she can’t understand why such a severe punishment should befall her for what she perceives as relatively minor violation.

In the meantime, Barton tries to impress on his superior that the intruder is just a kid, but Delhart is resolute, and demands to know when Barton intends to carry out the “execution”. The Captain protests, but when Delhart insists, Martin takes the girls Identity Disc from around her neck and commences to read aloud from it: “T8374 dash Y84….” However, before Martin is able to continue, the Commander again insists on having the time of execution.

Barton stalls for a moment, then once again starts reciting from the Disc: “Name: Lee Cross; Sex: Female… “, but the cold voice stemming from the ships communicator becomes ever more instant: “Time of execution MUST be given before ID details!” The pilot, however, continues reading.

“This is most irregular!” bemoans the Commander.

“Then we do it in a ‘highly irregular way!”, the pilot responds, defiantly: “Hair: red; Eyes: blue; Date of Birth: 7 July 2060…”.

By this time, Lee is in a blind panic – begging Barton to make his commanding officer reconsider, but the Pilot’s hands are tied. Nevertheless, he launches one last angry salvo at Delhart: “The subject is a girl. Are you capable of understanding that?” The communicator, nonetheless, falls silent.

Martin now tries to calm the panic-stricken girl, who still can’t understand why she must face such a harsh penalty. Quietly, Barton attempts to explain their situation – revealing how the Kala Virus can kill within 24 hours of the first symptoms appearing, and how the medication supplies of the stricken Group 1 had been destroyed in a recent tornado.

“But don’t the others in Group 2 have the serum?” Lee enquires.

Barton acknowledges that they do, but because they’re based 8,000 miles away across the Western Sea, they wouldn’t be able to reach the others in time. Martin now hands her as copy of the Interstellar Regulations, which explains the amount of weight his vessel can carry given the quantity of fuel they have on board. If it were to run out, he explains, they’d both die.

Once again he contacts Stardust to ask if they would calculate his direction and velocity. They advise that he must reduce speed at exactly 19.10 – the time that Lee would be forced to leave the ship.

At last the girl begins to grasp the hopelessness of her situation: either she dies alone in the icy vacuum of space, or she takes seven other people with her. Martin reveals to her that, since the Stardust is now out of reach and the next nearest cruiser is over 40 light-years away, no one is in a position to help her.

Left: Captain Barton tries to comfort Lee as she comes to terms with her fate

Quietly, Lee confides that, when she boarded the ship, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. She knows now that what she did was stupid, but all she ever wanted was to see her brother. Only an hour earlier, she’d been safe on the Stardust, which was now continuing on its journey to Mimir, whilst she’s left with nothing but the blunt realisation that she’ll never see her family again.

Martin does his best to comfort the girl. The frontier, he says, is huge and scattered, and that the 16 men on Woden have an entire world to themselves. Gerry had recounted such stories to her many times; tales of exploration groups and survey parties – all of them fighting alien environments.

“And did he tell you that those environments fight back?” Barton asks, mournfully. Out in space, there was no room for mistakes. It was the responsibility of people like Martin Barton and Gerry Cross to make it safe for new settlers.

Lee tearfully surveys her surroundings, and remarks on the size of the cruiser they’re travelling in – commenting that it appeared to have more than enough room for its two passengers. She hadn’t given a thought to the fuel, since her only consideration had been for her brother.

When once there seemed to be so much time, the stark realisation that she only has 25 minutes of her life remaining suddenly hits home. As if in a vain attempt to take her mind off her impending fate, she turns to Captain Barton and enquires about the ships controls; pointing to various dials and switches on the console and asking what functions they performed. Yet, before he’s able to respond, her thoughts turn to her parents, and she asks if it might be possible for her to write a letter to them. Barton nods, but then suggests that there might be a possibility to make contact with Gerry on Wotan.

After several discouraging attempts, Barton finally manages to reach the Research Unit and at once asks to speak with Gerry Cross. Frustratingly, however, he’s informed that Cross is out in the field, but is expected back any moment. An assurance is given that a return call will be made the minute he gets back, and so an expectant Lee begins to write the letter to her parents.

Tearfully, the girl tells Barton how desperately she needs to hear her brother’s voice one last time. She admits that she’s afraid, and that she feels herself to be a coward. Directly, Martin determines that cowardice and fear are two separate things, and that she’s most certainly not a coward.

As she finishes her letter, she asks Barton – if her brother were to make a mistake out there in space, would he have to die for it? The Pilot says that, regrettably, life is like that along the Frontier. The Girl admits that she’d always thought of danger as fun, like it’d been when she watched a film at her local 3D cinema. But now it was for real, there was no going home after the show ended.

Worriedly, Barton tells her that Gerry would need to contact them soon, given the fact that they’d shortly be out of communications range. Even then, there’d be scant time for them to talk – briefer even than the time she had left. In that case, Lee laments, the moment the call ends, she wished to leave the craft. After all, what would be the point in her waiting around?

At that very second, Barton receives the long-anticipated response from Woden. Initially, Gerry is reluctant to believe that his sister could be on-board the EDS; the fact that the connection between the Research Station and the cruiser is so poor, doesn’t help. When finally Cross accepts that he is in fact speaking with his sister, he’s shocked to learn of her status as a Stowaway, given his understanding with interstellar law.

Gerry asks if he might speak with the Pilot, who gives the Researcher his coordinates and fuel status. Barton tells Cross that it would be impossible for him to turn back, but assures him that he’s done everything in his power to help the girl.

Left: Captain Barton prepares to eject Lee out through the escape hatch

As the signal to the Cruiser inevitably fades, Barton urges Lee to say a final goodbye before it’s too late. When the link between them finally breaks, Lee begins her silent trudge towards the air lock. Once inside, she turns to face Barton and nods as if to say “I’m ready”. Without any further exchange, the Pilot reaches for the leaver that sends the girl out into the freezing reaches of space.

Slowly and despondently, Captain Barton Returns to the pilot’s chair, where he presses the transmitter button that raises the Stardust. Calmly he reports that at 19.09 hours, Lee Cross was jettisoned from the ship: “Details of stowaway previously recorded”.

*All the episodes of the series were wiped, apart from one – ‘The Little Robot’.

Notes: In Tom Godwin’s original story, The Cold Equations, the stowaway was called Marilyn. It has been suggested that Godwin took his story from an earlier tale penned by Al Feldstein, which appeared in the comic book Weird Science in 1952. Feldstein narrative, A Weighty Decision, also featured a female stowaway who had to be jettisoned. An even earlier story, Precedent by E.C. Tubb, which was published in 1949, again saw a stowaway being ejected into space due of a lack of fuel.

Above: A contemporary cutting from The TV Times