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Peter was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, before going to Lodge School in Barbados aged 8. He came to England soon after the conclusion of WW2 in 1945, and to Lancing where he was in Second’s House. He captained the 1st X1 at cricket for 2 seasons, also gaining his colours in squash, soccer, tennis and athletics.
Peter went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1949 and studied Law, played cricket with the likes of Rahman Subba-Row, Peter May, David Sheppard and Hubert Doggart and captained the squash team, earning a Blue. He would go on to represent England at squash twice, winning on both occasions.
After a short spell as a teacher at Westbourne House Prep School near Chichester, Peter began his long and distinguished career in film and television in 1958, specialising in current affairs and travelling all over the world. He became a freelance producer/director in 1964, directing the first documentary to be broadcast in colour on British television, which included Martin Luther-King’s famous speech, ‘I have a Dream’. He made his first training film, for EMI, in 1971 before founding Video Arts with Sir Anthony Jay and John Cleese, producing informative, enjoyable and amusing training films for businesses starring, amongst others, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Prunella Scales and Cleese himself. Peter was Managing Director, also directing most of the films which included such titles as ‘Meetings, Bloody Meetings’, ‘Balance Sheet Barrier’ and ‘Who Sold You This, Then?’, growing the company in the UK and internationally. In 1982, they were awarded the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement at Buckingham Palace, before selling the company in 1988.
Peter’s love of sport and, in particular cricket, led him to play for a number of wandering clubs including MCC, Sussex Martlets and Free Foresters and he often represented the Duke of Norfolk’s X1 at Arundel Castle CC. He played his Club cricket for Esher CC and his one first-class game, for Colonel Stevens’ X1 v Cambridge University, came in 1961. He also played golf for the Hazards, XL Club which he captained in 1992/1993, and at Burhill GC in Surrey.
It was Lancing Rovers that became the focus of his cricketing life, playing in the annual cricket week in the summer holidays against other school old boy teams and in the Cricketer Cup, captaining from 1961-1971 and then becoming President of the Rovers twice in the 70s and 80s. His love of both the College and the Rovers led him to setting up the ‘Peter Robinson Cricket Scholarship’, enabling talented cricketers to benefit from an education and tailored sports programmes at Lancing. It was most fitting that, at
the time of Peter’s death, Lancing were on tour in Barbados and the Director of Cricket, Raj Maru, organised a two-minute silence before their first game, at the Isolation Cavaliers ground, St Andrew. The touring squad included 3 beneficiaries of the scholarship.
Brian O’Gorman, past president of the Sussex Martlets, eloquently described Peter’s cricketing skills and approach thus:
‘Peter bowled off-spin owing more to length, flight and variation of pace than break, with an easy rhythmic action. His batting technique was stylish with all the strokes and a readiness to use them. He was very competitive in every match, being difficult to overcome and radiating intensity of purpose rather than spoken attitudes’.
Peter passed away peacefully at home in Esher, Surrey, in March aged 93 and leaves his wife of 58 years, Wendy, three children – Sally, Michael and Jonathan – 10 grand-children and seven great grand-children.
The Robinson Family