Peter Mayle

Peter Mayle (born 14 June 1939 in Brighton) is a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France.

Early life

Born in Brighton, historically in Sussex, the youngest of three children, Mayle and his family moved to Barbados after the war, where his father was transferred as a Foreign Office employee. Peter returned to England after leaving school at 16.

Advertising career

His first job in 1957 was as a trainee at Shell Oil, based in their London office. It was there that he discovered that he was more interested in advertising than oil and he wrote to David Ogilvy, the head of the advertising agency that had the Shell account at that time, asking for a job. Ogilvy offered him a job as a junior account executive but Mayle's interest was more on the creative side of the business and he subsequently became a copywriter in 1961 based in their New York office. In due course another agency, Papert Koenig, Lois, poached him from Ogilvy and sent him back to London to head up the creative team in their UK office, where one of his colleagues was Alan Parker. When the US parent hit trouble in the mid-60s he and a colleague bought the London operation. They developed the business with accounts that included Watneys, Olivetti and Sony and after 5 years, they were bought by BBDO, one of the top American agencies. He then commuted between the US and the UK as their creative director. By 1974 he'd had enough of advertising and transatlantic commuting and quit the business to write full-time.