(post title stolen from a friend on Bluesky—hi Kitty, hi Tim)
Australian celebrity chef Peter Russell-Clarke dies aged 89
Born in Ballarat in 1935, Russell-Clarke began his career at age 14, working as a junior artist at an advertising agency, before moving into freelance cartooning and working as a food consultant for popular magazines, including New Idea and Woman’s Day.
He went on to produce his own cookbooks before shooting to wider fame through his catchy “g’days” which featured in the theme song of his 1980s ABC cooking show Come and Get it.
The show ran from 1983 to 1992, with 900 episodes written and hosted by Russell-Clarke wearing his signature neckerchief.
His appearances on Come and Get It made him one of Australia’s pioneering TV celebrity chefs.
“I realised that the bloke in front of the camera got more applause than the person who wrote it,” he told the ABC in 2017.
“So I wrote myself into the series and I became known as a cook rather than a painter or a writer.”
I share part of PRC’s surname, so, in the 80s when he was at his peak with Come and Get It, the kids at primary school used to amuse themselves singing the theme song with my first name inserted. It was irritating. Still, not going to blame Peter for that, of course, not his fault that primary school kids could be little shits (I mean, I probably was one myself at times, let’s be honest)… Anyway, there goes another one of those people, the ones that were just always there when you were little, maybe not so much as you get older but they’re a presence nonetheless… and when they go, another bit of your own past departs with them. Bye, Peter, looks like you had a pretty decent time among us…
