John Peter

John Anthony Peter (born Janos Antal Peter; 24 August 1938 – 3 July 2020 ) was a Hungarian-born British theatre critic, who immigrated to Britain in 1956. He was chief drama critic of The Sunday Times from 1984 to 2003, and The Sunday Times contributing drama critic through to 2010. In 1990 he founded the Ian Charleson Awards, which he directed until 2017.

Early life and education Peter was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1938. His father Andras Peter (1903–1944), an esteemed art historian and third-generation Catholic who was fond of England, was killed by Hungarian Nazis in 1944 because of his Jewish ancestry. hidden in a hay cart. Knowing no English, he and his mother nevertheless received transport to England, which they had their hearts set on, aided by the Red Cross. specifically a barracks near Tidworth, in Wiltshire.

Career

Times Newspapers Peter began his career while still a post-graduate student at Oxford writing a dissertation on Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.

In September 1984 Peter became chief drama critic of The Sunday Times. He continued in this position through 2003, following which he was the Sunday Times contributing drama critic through to 2010.

In February 2003, Theatregoer magazine listed and interviewed him as one of 11 critics called the "most powerful people in theatre".

Ian Charleson Award Peter saw and reviewed Ian Charleson's extraordinary Hamlet at the National Theatre in late 1989. Unbeknownst to the audience, Charleson performed it during the last weeks of his life while he was seriously ill with AIDS, and died in January 1990 at the age of 40 eight weeks after his final performance. In November 1990, in memory of Charleson's fine performance, Peter established the annual Ian Charleson Award, to recognise and reward the best classical stage performance by an actor under age 30. The awards are jointly sponsored by The Sunday Times and the National Theatre, where they are held. The awards defined a classic play as one written prior to 1900;

Personal life In 1978 Peter married Linette Perry (née Purbi), a writer and painter; she died in 2012.