Peter Corey

Peter Frederick George Corey (1946–19 April 2019) was a British writer, actor and comedian. Corey was the author of the Coping With children's book series. He also wrote scripts for television programmes and acted in dramas and soap operas.

In later life Corey continued to act and write, as well as touring the world talking about his work and providing writing and acting workshops. He also worked as a stand-up comedian. He has worked extensively with learndirect as a writer and contributed titles to OUP's new reading scheme Project X. In 2009 he wrote a book for Qatar's National Day celebrations called The Pearl.

He was an actor and writer, known for Coping with Christmas (1995), Bernard's Watch (1997) and One Foot in the Grave (1990).

Corey's Coping With Books have been transformed into a number of television shows, starting as a one-off called "Coping with Grown-Ups" in 1994, followed by "Coping with Christmas" in 1995 as well as a six-part series; (Holidays, School, Cool, Relatives, Girls, Boys) broadcast over the 1997–1998 Christmas holiday.

Corey wote at least 30 books, the most enduring (1989–2002) being his book series Coping With... which are designed to be useful, containing tips on how to 'Cope' with certain subjects as well as being amusing.

His other books included The A-Z of Absolutely Everything, The Life and Times of Cristóbal Colón; Columbus Exposed a semi-accurate biography of Christopher Columbus, Palace Hill the Book (A book version of the Palace Hill TV series) and The Number 73 annual (An annual of a TV series, 1985). He later wrote a book for the American market - "Running for the bus", as well as two titles for the Oxford University Press reading scheme Project X. He also wrote a number of projects for learndirect including one entitled Where did the river go?, which is aimed at adults and children with reading and numeracy issues.

In 1981 he played the famous comedian Tony Hancock in a TV play that he wrote himself for BBC2. He spent several years working with the Junior Television Workshop at Central (later Carlton) Television in Nottingham. This led to him writing TV scripts and books, including TV versions of his book series 'Coping with ..' which won several awards.

Corey began writing in the early 1970s and wrote over 40 stage plays. These included a musical adaptation of Spike Milligan's Badjelly the Witch.

Whilst attending the Edward Shelley School in Walsall, he took part in a school play and this inspired him to become an actor. He trained at the Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art from 1962 until 1965.

Peter Corey was born in 1946 in Walsall, West Midlands, England as Peter Frederick George Cook.