Please note that some of the additional information provided here by the journalist named below may not be accurate, so it should be treated with caution.
Sunday, 28th November, 1971
He’s not just a pretty face – he’s great over a hot stove too!
Sexy he certainly is. With hardly a day passing without him receiving at least a few dozen proposals of marriage, a large smattering of decidedly improper offers and great sacksfuls of letters telling him he’s gorgeous. He has even outstripped Paul Newman in poster popularity as a world heart throb.
But when I called on Peter Wyngarde it wasn’t to make a grab for his trousers and, honestly, that’s what happens to him all the time, and I didn’t ask him to autograph the top of my tights and that, too, is a common request.
Instead, we chatted at his London bachelor flat to discuss his prowess as a cook.
As television’s hairy hero Jason King, now promoted from a bit part in Department S to solo starring in a series all of his own, Peter’s private life interest in food is pretty serious. But as he said, sprawled like a broody marjah on a much-cushioned settee, “Truth is people only seem interested in my sex life. Women just want to take me to bed. And men want to know where I get my suits cut.
“I suppose the fact that I’m quite a good cook doesn’t fit in with the sex image. Well, I mean, what woman would dream of being carried off into the night by a fella who’s been up to his elbows in flour!
“Mind you, I don’t want it to get around that I’m giving up sex for food. Believe me, I need sex. But then, one can always get plenty of that, thank goodness.
“No, the only thing is that I get a bit frazzled by the way women go after me. I truly don’t understand why – especially when you consider that it is all ages of women, starting at 4 and going up for 98”.
Manfully, though, he has learned to live with himself as a sex symbol.
Despite his following of armchair mistresses, inside the suave, sophisticated television Jason King there beats the heart of a real-life Peter Wyngarde, who actually enjoys a spot of slaving over a hot stove.
“It is a great relaxation for me,” he said, only just managing to find enough give in his skin-tight trousers to enable him to cross his legs.
“The thing is I’m a split personality over food. On one hand I’m hooked on the health food bit you know, nuts and whole wheat and all that. At least once a day I tried to eat a purely healthy, vegetarian meal. But then for my other meal I adore exotic food.
“I also love cooking for my friends, giving lavish dinners which might take hours and hours to prepare”.
As might be expected, Peter is a very unconventional cook. Like many things he does he creates on a whim and swears that he has never referred to a cookery book in his life.
“I do tend to add ingredients just as I fancy,” he said, “I don’t like rigid planning.”
He likens cookery to the way he chose his dog. “One day I woke up and decided to have a dog and I wanted to name him Yousef,” he explained.
“Incredibly that day I heard of a superb litter of champion Afghan Hounds. So I went along to have a look and there were these twelve puppies in the one litter. I stood there facing all 12 of them and yelled ‘Yousef’ and, you know, one toddled over to me. That was the one I went home with. Of course, I admit I was lucky with Yousef. But mostly my cooking works out on that principle, too.
“But, seriously, I think the secret of success with everything, cookery or what have you, is to be adventurous; a bit of a gambler. In that respect Jason King influences me tremendously. Though he’s only a fantasy character he has a lot to offer in real life”.
For a start he’s not hung up on the age bogey. “Now, I have noticed that young people never think about age. It’s only the old ones that mention it. They’re the ones that count birthdays and wonder constantly if someone is 30, 50 or 106.
“It’s the old ones that make the rules about what is the right behaviours for certain ages. In fact, age is all in the mind”.
As it happens, Peter wouldn’t pinpoint his own age accurately. He explained that his mother had confused his passport with his brother’s and he wasn’t sure whether he was four years younger or older than his brother.
He would not, however, say what he was four years younger or older than. “I really have forgotten all about it,” he said.
In some branches of his private life, though, Peter is not so forgetful or casual. He has organised himself very well with two cars, a Bentley and a Bristol, a London flat, a home in Spain, and odd bits of property all over the place.
“I am,” he said, “a pretty self-sufficient person. I’m quite happy to go for days even weeks without seeing a soul. I’m looking for an isolated cottage right now so I can do just that.
“You see, I don’t consider getting married. I was once and it was disastrous. Matter of fact, I learned to cook when my wife left me. But I must admit that it was only when I became Jason King that I learned to cook well.”
Interview by Patricia Boxhall.
PETER WYNGARDE: The Official Website 
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