Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian who is widely regarded as the father of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He is closely associated with an anti-establishment style of comedy that emerged in the late 1950s in the depths of the Cold War.

Cook was himself 'establishment' educated, at Radley and Pembroke College, Cambridge where he read French and German, and it was at the latter that he first performed and wrote comedy sketches as a member of the Cambridge Footlights.

On graduation, he wrote professionally for Kenneth Williams for whom he created the famous "One legged Tarzan" sketch, before finding fame in his own right as a star of the satirical stage show, Beyond the Fringe, with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore.

With his star firmly in the ascendant he opened The Establishment Club in Soho which allowed him to associate with the big stars of the day. He became a friend and supporter of Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British career at the Establishment Club, and Dudley Moore's acclaimed jazz trio (which included Australian-born drummer Chris Karan) played there regularly for many years in the Sixties.