PETER was larger than life in more ways than one, an imposing figure with a jovial personality and a monumental passion for trains, traction engines, tractors, bicycles, motorbikes and virtually every form of heritage transport.
Taking over the regulator of The RM at a time of dwindling copy sales in early-1989, he used his experience as a newspaper journalist to completely overhaul the product, increasing the number of news pages, shortening deadlines and enhancing the colour content.
He broadened its appeal to younger readers by beefing up the modern traction content and insisted on payments being made to photographers; until then, all they had received was a free copy of the magazine.
Although winning readers back from rival publications took longer than anticipated, Pete (he preferred the shorter version of his name) must be given huge credit for laying the editorial foundations on which his successors were eventually able to regain and retain market leadership.