Peter Spence | |
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Born | 24 April 1944 England |
Education | University of Nottingham |
Occupations |
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Known for | Creator and writer of To the Manor Born |
Peter Spence (born 24 April 1944) is an English journalist and writer. He created and wrote the British sitcom To the Manor Born .
Born in 1944, Peter Spence was educated at Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire. [1] At the age of 18, he became a reporter for the Birmingham Post and Mail . Around the same times, he joined the Territorial Army. [1] He studied Politics and American Studies at the University of Nottingham and graduated in 1968, becoming a professional writer in the same year. [1]
Spence has written for many television shows including Not the Nine O'Clock News , Crackerjack and Rosemary & Thyme . In the early-1970s, Peter married into the Taylor family who owned and ran Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park in Somerset. This provided him with a fund of anecdotes which he compiled into a book entitled "some of our best friends are animals".
A few years later in the mid 1970s he created To the Manor Born , and after a radio pilot was made, the series aired on television from 1979 to 1981. [2] Out of 21 episodes, he wrote 20 of them. The manor shown in the opening credits is in fact Cricket House at Cricket St Thomas – the home of his in-laws.
Spence has also written for radio, including 'Weekending’; ‘The News Huddlines’; The Roy Castle Show and Windsor Davies Presents. [1]