Peter Corey

Peter Corey (born 1946) is the author of the "Coping With..." children's book series. The series targets youngsters using humour. He is also the author of books of non-humorous nature. He has also written scripts for many television programmes and he has played characters in dramas and soaps.

Biography

Peter was born in Walsall in the West Midlands in 1946.

After appearing in a school nativity play carrying a jam-jar full of Myrhh, he aspired to become an actor. His first job was with the Unicorn Children's theatre, touring the north of England and Scotland. From theatre he drifted into TV acting and writing: in 1981 he played the famous comedian Tony Hancock in a TV play that he wrote himself.

He has worked with a number of top TV comedians, including Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner, Jack Dee and Jeremy Hardy. He also played the original next door neighbour in "One Foot in the Grave". Peter continues to act and write, as well as touring UK talking about his work and providing writing workshops. He has also recently started working as a stand-up comedian.

Peter lives in Margate in Kent, England with his wife, who is a teacher. He has five children, a dog and three cats.

Books

His most successful Fact|date=February 2007 book series is "Coping With..." which are designed to be useful, containing tips on how to 'Cope' with certain subjects as well as being amusing. Two distinguishing features of these books are: a complete A-Z of subjects (often with nonexistent subjects for letters Q,V,X,Y and Z such as 'Zee end bit'), and heavy use of humorous footnotes, often with funny 'background information' about a subject.

The titles in the series are (in order):
*Coping With Parents (1989, ISBN 0-590-76140-4)
*Coping With Teachers (1991, ISBN 0-590-76485-3)
*Coping With Girls/ Boys (co-written with Kara May) (1992, ISBN 0-590-55044-6)
*Coping With School (1993, ISBN 0-590-55279-1)
*Coping With The Family (1994, ISBN 0-590-55524-3)
*Coping With Pets (1995, ISBN 0-590-55838-2)
*Coping With Friends (1996, ISBN 0-590-13183-4)
*Coping With Love (1997, ISBN 0-590-13446-9)
*Coping With Exams and Tests (1998, ISBN 0-590-19683-9)
*Coping With The 21st Century (1999, ISBN 0-590-11192-2)
*Coping With Christmas (1999, ISBN 0-439-01187-6)
*Coping With Cash (2000, ISBN 0-439-01015-2)
*Coping With 1999 (a diary)

His other books include "The A-Z of Absolutely Everything", "The Life and Times of Cristóbal Colón; Columbus Exposed" (a semi-accurate biography of Christopher Columbus, 1992, ISBN 0-590-55108-6), "Palace Hill the Book" (A book version of the Palace Hill TV series) and "The Number 73 annual" (An annual of a TV series, 1985), which was recalled due to containing very high numbers of spelling errors. More recently he has written a book for the American market - "Running for the bus", and he has just launched a book for learndirect entitled [http://www.wheredidtherivergo.co.uk"Where did the river go?,] "which is aimed at adults and children with reading and numeracy issues. This is an on-going project.

Work on camera

Peter Corey is also an actor, featuring in dramas and soap operas.

In "Brookside", he played "Freddie Spence" for two years. His character was a man who disliked the police and became outraged when his daughter, Diana, married a policeman. He also featured in "EastEnders" for six months playing "Vic the Crusher", who was an extortionist. Peter also played Mr. Prout in "One Foot in the Grave".

His other roles include:
*"London's Burning"
*"Hornblower"
*"Harry's Mad"
*"Sooty Heights"
*"The Bill"
*"No Sweat"

Due to his acting career and comedic personality, Peter Corey has come into contact with numerous famous actors and comedians including Frank Skinner, Steve Coogan, Jack Dee and Richard Blackwood.

His "Coping With Books" have been transformed into a TV show, starting as a one-off called "Coping with Grown-Ups" in 1994, followed by "Coping with Christmas" in 1995, and a six-part series; ("Holidays", "School", "Cool", "Relatives", "Girls", "Boys") over the 1997-1998 Christmas Holiday.

Work for the camera

He has also written several comedies, including:

*"Your Mother Wouldn't Like It" (A children's sketch show)
*"Palace Hill" (A comedy about the younger royals eg. Princes William and Harry)
*"The Comedy Crowd" (A one-off comedy sketch show)
*"Cue Gary" (Observational sketch show)

Work on stage

Peter has written over 40 scripts and stage plays. He began writing 30 years ago and has managed to write 15 books on top of the plays. Of the plays he has written, includes an adaptation of Spike Milligan's Badjelly the Witch.

Awards

His "Coping With..." series has been generated much success and he has led to the creation eight TV programmes that have helped Peter win four BAFTAs, the Prix Jeunesse, a Writers Guild award and a Bronze Apple.

ee also

* List of children's non-fiction writers

External links

* [http://www.petercorey.com Peter Corey's own website]