John Bates rose to prominence in the Swinging Sixties fashion scene, but became famous for creating the sartorial onscreen identity of The Avengers TV series’s leading lady, Emma Peel. Using fabrics futuristic for the time – PVC and synthetic stretch jersey – Bates’s designs became synonymous with the newly liberated woman. Peel, played by actress Diana Rigg, was a revolutionary character, independent and athletic, performing moves which originated in martial arts.
Bates was born on 11 January 1935 in Dinnington, Ponteland, then a mining village near Newcastle upon Tyne. Originally intending to be a journalist, Bates learnt shorthand and typewriting before serving in the British army.
