Peter George Adamson was born on Sunday the 16th of February 1930 at 54 Hannan Road in Kensington, Liverpool, the youngest of six children and his father was manager of a menswear shop. Educated at Gilmour School, he was evacuated to Wales with his older brother when World War II broke out and after the war left school at the age of 14 and began acting at the Wavertree Community Centre whilst training as an engraver at Toxteth Technical School. Peter graduated as an engraver in 1948 but moved to London and enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Drama. He refused to take his drama studies seriously so after only two months he left. Returning to the North West he then worked as a film extra before working at Sale Theatre in Cheshire. Later that year, he joined the Frank H Fortescue Players at Bury as a stage manager where he met his wife Jean. On the 20th of December 1953 they married and produced two sons Michael and Greig. He set up his own rep theatre company, producing and performing in plays and summer shows at Weston-super-Mare and appeared in London's West End. In 1956 Peter made his television debut as a comedy host of a record show before gaining roles in television dramas such as Granada Television's 'Skysport' and 'Knight Errant Limited' (1959) before being cast as the Liverpudlian ex-Navy builder, Len Fairclough, in Granada's new soap opera 'Coronation Street' and first appeared in the soap in January 1961. By the late 1960s he had a serious drink problem, although in February 1973 he managed to stop drinking, with the help of Alcoholic Anonymous. Off screen he gained a reputation as a hell-raiser, often turning up on set after a binge, but on one occasion was so drunk he couldn't deliver his lines, and was later suspended by Granada. He stopped drinking alcohol in July 1969 after being suspended from the show unpaid, re-joining Alcoholics Anonymous, and spent several weeks in Rossendale General Hospital drying out.
In the 1970s he took time off the soap to do other things and in September 1970 took two months away to play Mr Fenn in the play 'Someone's Waiting' and then in 1972 he was in New Zealand from November to December 1972, playing Gus in Harold Winter's play, 'The Dumb Waiter' and then in 1973 appeared in the play 'Nightfall'. In December 1981, he was celebrated in an episode of 'This Is Your Life' when he was surprised by Eamon Andrews in London's Leicester Square. The year 1983 was a bad year for him as he sold behind the scenes stories about several of his co-stars which put Peter in breach of his contract and as a result, Granada decided to suspend him for six weeks. Meanwhile he was arrested for indecently assaulting two eight year old girls for which he was found not guilty. After admitting to management that the had signed another unauthorised contract to sell his memoirs to The Sun and The News of the World, he would not give definite assurances that he would never again break Granada's house rules on press interviews. His fate was sealed and his contract wasn't renewed based on his breach of contract. Script writers for the show killed him off when he suffered a heart attack at the wheel of his car. It had been a busy 23 years for Len Fairclough. He was a regular drinker in the Rover's Return for seven years before moving into No 9 Coronation Street in 1968. He was a builder in partnership with Ray Langton, and had at first been married to Nellie Briggs, but when she left him - and after his affairs with Maggie Clegg, Anita Reynolds and Bet Lynch - he married Rita Littlewood in 1977, and they built up The Kabin Newsagent's business together. They fostered Sharon, who later tried to do Rita out of the business. During his second marriage, Len had affairs with Elsie Tanner, Janet Reid and, finally, Marjorie Procter. It was returning from her house that he had his fatal motor accident in 1983.
Peter did however join Hayley Mills and Simon Ward at the Vanderville Theatre, London in the thriller 'Dial M For Murder', playing Inspector Hubbard, from the 31st of October 1983 and continuing through at least December of that year. He remained in the public eye and sold further stories to national tabloids, however his exit from 'Coronation Street' led to a collapse in his personal life. The following year, his wife Jean underwent several operations but passed away after suffering years of chronic ill-health and severe arthritis. Peter overcame his grief by travelling England in a caravan, then moving to Canada with a hope of a new career but after just a few jobs he returned to England and moved in with his son in Lincolnshire. He received unemployment benefit for a while before retiring from acting and ending his life living alone in a housing association flat in Welton, Lincolnshire, a self-confessed bankrupt alcoholic. Peter had remained sober for 15 years but started consuming alcohol again after his wife's death.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/08/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-ivan.html
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