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We are very sad to announce that Peter Jewell, our Honorary Patron and Principal Donor, died earlier this week after a short illness. Even though he was 90 it has come as something of a shock, because up to his last days he was as sharp as ever and full of life. He will be hugely missed; he was indomitable, witty, with a wealth of great stories, hugely intelligent, incredibly generous and kind, and fascinated by everything around him.
With his great friend, the filmmaker Bill Douglas, he put together the amazing collection of moving image artefacts that founded the museum. They had an amazing and unique friendship - from meeting during National Service in Egypt, they had a deep platonic bond in which their mutual love of film played a vital role, as shown in the recent documentary, Bill Douglas, My Best Friend. Despite their obvious differences in background, as Bill had a deprived, neglected, upbringing in a Scottish mining village, and Peter came from a loving and comfortable family in North Devon, they had a great understanding of each other; Peter said, ‘they were never bored with each other’s company’. Peter was immensely supportive of Bill’s work as a filmmaker and gave him the emotional strength he needed to navigate the stressful and frustrating world of the film industry. Although he played down his role, and never formally worked in cinema (he had a successful career as a social worker, caring for elderly and disabled people in London), Peter made a significant contribution to the films as a script editor and researcher, particularly with Bill’s final epic about The Tolpuddle Martyrs, Comrades. After Bill’s tragically early death in 1991, Peter dedicated much of his life to Bill’s legacy, and he was immensely proud that many new audiences discovered Bill’s films and that his genius and vision was finally appreciated and understood. They are now reunited.
That legacy of course is even more present in The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, which is a great testament to both men. Bill and Peter were brilliant and canny collectors, acquiring over 50,000 items at the time of Bill’s death through, as they said, ‘persistence and shoe leather’, rather than lots of money. They always had the idea that the collection should be shared with others, so they could experience the same joy and fascination that they gained from moving pictures. They collected strategically so that they had representative items across three centuries of moving image history. After Bill died Peter sought a home for the collection, and in 1994 under the auspices of Professor Richard Maltby and the museum’s first Curator, Richard Crangle, it came to the University of Exeter, opening to the public in 1997. The University was in Peter’s home county of Devon, where he returned to live in Barnstaple, and it also wished it to be a free, public museum accessible to all, which is what Peter and Bill always wanted. Peter carried on collecting and had an amazing eye for a bargain; he always said, ‘collecting is the disease for which there is no cure’. He continued to the very end of his life to find new items to enhance the museum. He could be exacting and uncompromising, but it was all in the cause of doing what he felt was best for the museum. Everything was done entirely without ego; he never had any wish to blow his own trumpet or seek glory. It was an extraordinarily generous and selfless act to gift the collection to the University to establish the museum. What he loved most was enthusiasm, something he communicated brilliantly in his talks to our students and other audiences, exciting everyone with his passion for the collection, Bill’s work, and moving image history.
The museum is an amazing legacy to leave the world, and we are profoundly grateful to Peter for his vision, energy, and enthusiasm. It was a privilege to know him, to be his friend, and to work with him at the museum. I will miss him greatly, as will the Jewell family, and his many friends.
Thank You Peter.
Phil Wickham, Curator.
The Image at the top of the article was taken by Bill and Peter with a timer in the back garden of Peter's House, probably in the late 1980s. The Image of Peter was taken by Juliana Malucelli in 2023. It shows Peter with the portrait of Bill Douglas by Juliana's partner, David Appleby.
An obituary of Peter by writer and stipend holder Nicholas Johnson was poublished in The Guardian and you can read it here.