Peter Cook’s widow snubs heritage honour

A heritage plaque commemorating the late Peter Cook (pictured), the British satirist and former owner of Private Eye magazine, is to be unveiled on Sunday in Soho, affixed to the building that once housed The Establishment, the comedy club he founded in the 1960s. Many of his family and friends will be there, but not his widow, Lin Cook, who has decided to boycott the event.

According to the Daily Mail, both Lin and her daughter - Cook's step-daughter - have failed to respond to entreaties to attend. "Lin hasn't even bothered to reply," says a source at the Heritage Foundation. "She doesn't want to get involved with anything that was in Peter's life before she came along."

Another reason for this might be that Cook's first wife, Wendy, to whom he was married from 1963 to 1970, will be there. When Cook died in 1995 aged 57, most of his wealth, including a controlling share in Private Eye, went to Lin, a wealthy Malayan-born property developer, while his two daughters, Lucy and Daisy, received only a fraction of their father's estate. This was claimed to be a source of considerable anger at the time.

Those who have accepted invitations to the unveiling include the actor Lance Percival, Nicholas Parsons, the host of BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute, and the comic Barry Cryer. However, the Mail suggests that even these harmless souls might be the reason Lin has decided to boycott the event. "Lin has no time for any of Peter's old associates who she feels encouraged him to drink,” says the Mail’s source. “After they married in 1989, he cut down on his alcohol and cleaned up his life. But when his mother subsequently died, he went off the rails and was drinking like a fish right up to his death."

Lin Cook has declined to make any comment on her decision. Heritage Foundation organiser David Graham commented: "I really don't want to say anything about her non-attendance except to say she isn't coming."