Brighton cartoonist dies aged 87

Peiter Smart of Totland Road, Brighton, enjoyed success as an artist, with much of his work selling in the United States.

He became a prominent figure in Brighton and Hove for his witty drawings in The Argus, which put a comical spin on the day’s news.

A devoted family man, Peiter had four children, Linda, Tim, Verity and Holly - and spent 27 happy years with his partner, Janet.

Peiter Smart

Verity Craig, owner of the Bohemia restaurant in Brighton, said her father would like to be remembered as a creative and happy man.

“I don’t want to speak for the whole family, because we all interpret people differently, but he was funny, cheeky and artistic. He was very into his style and being clean,” she said.

“Above everything he was a dad and a grandad, with lots of children.”

In his early life, Peiter was an avid motorbike racer, competing in speed trials around the country.

His love of speed started at a young age when he would chase ambulances through Brighton on his bicycle during the Second World War.

One of Peiter's cartoons

Peiter went on to join the RAF, and took his role very seriously. He worked on the ground and often was heard saying “the guys in the sky kept the civilians on the ground safe, and it was mine and my comrades’ job to keep those guys up there safe”.

Peiter with his granddaughter Daisy-May Craig

He lived a colourful life, perhaps most notably as an artist under the pseudonym PEET, a career in which he became internationally recognised. But it was his witty newspaper cartoons that gained him attention in Brighton and Hove throughout the Seventies and Eighties.

Later in life he worked at the Brighton Centre as a lighting technician, where he once lit Shirley Bassey's show. The star thanked him personally for his work afterwards.

PEET

“He was forever doing his art, always doing new bits for the family,” said Verity.

“He always seemed much younger than he was.”

Peiter died after a short spell in hospital with Covid-19.