Peter Jay could be remarkably kind. In 1968 I was working in the Times’s office in Washington. As easily the most junior person on the team, and female, I expected to be ignored or patronised, as was then the norm with successful men on other papers and on other foreign postings. But Peter was the delightful exception, always helpful and funny. In Washington and later in London, Peter and his wife, Margaret, were kind, inclusive and generous friends.
Victoria Brittain
In the 1970s the ITV series Weekend World won an award and a sizeable cheque, received by Peter Jay as presenter on behalf of his co-workers (I was a location director). Peter decided to keep the money to pay for some work on his yacht, Norvantes.
Some weeks later, after protests, word spread that he was buying drinks in the studio bar. It is a credit to the security staff at LWT’s South Bank Centre that no one was seriously injured in the rush to take advantage of this invitation.
Alan Ravenscroft
