Pete McCarthy, writer, comedian and broadcaster best-known for his two travel books, McCarthy's Bar and The Road to McCarthy, has died of cancer aged 51.
McCarthy was born in Warrington, England, to an Irish mother and an English father. His father's surname was Robinson and McCarthy's passport cited him as Peter Charles McCarthy Robinson.
He was known professionally throughout his life as Pete McCarthy, however, taking his mother's maiden name. Throughout his childhood, summers were spent in west Cork with his Irish relatives. A key subject in both his travel books was the questioning of what constituted his national identity, Irish or English: he described himself as "both insider and outsider".
When only seven, McCarthy's school report noted "He has a very fluent pen." As a teenager, he attended the De La Salle Christian Brothers secondary school, where actor Pete Postlethwaite was the prefect on his school bus.
In later life, McCarthy admitted that a key memory of his school days was studying Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man at 14 and identifying with Stephen Dedalus, since they had both endured what McCarthy described as "the indignity of being beaten by a Brother".
It was also the book that made him decide he wanted to be a writer himself.
He received a first in English from Leicester University, considered for a time pursuing an academic career at third level, and explored the possibility of doing a PhD on the Victorian novel. Instead, he did a postgraduate certification in education and did his teaching practice in Leicestershire comprehensives. He then worked on building sites for a year, saving up to go travelling.
When he had got enough money together, he took a year off and went hitch-hiking around America and Mexico. He found the experience both liberating and unsettling. Still unsure of his career path, on return he left his job teaching English and drama after only a year.
His experience of hitching and travelling in America and Mexico ignited a life-long love of travel in McCarthy. He turned to writing comedy, co-founding Cliffhanger Theatre, with which he toured shows internationally.
For several years, he also wrote scripts for comedians Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. For a time, he was resident compere at the Comedy Store in London. With the poet Roger McGough, he toured a two-man show in Britain and Australia.
In 1990, he won a Perrier Award Nomination at the Edinburgh Festival with The Hangover Show. A subsequent BBC Radio 4 broadcast on Loose Ends of his fervent account of suffering a hangover at the bottom of the Grand Canyon resulted in an offer to become a television travel presenter.
McCarthy quickly became a household name through his popular travel series for Channel 4, Travelog. He presented it for seven years and reached a whole new audience.
A prodigious worker, he also presented other television shows while continuing to be a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4, as well as a frequent guest on Loose Ends, Just a Minute and The News Quiz.
It was his two travel books, McCarthy's Bar (2000) and The Road to McCarthy (2002), however, which gained him a worldwide readership and recognition. In his first book, using the simple theme of "Never pass a bar with your name on it", McCarthy travelled around Ireland, visiting bars owned by his namesakes and writing about the people he met en route.
Having already honed his skills in commercial comedy writing, McCarthy's sharply written, original and thoughtful fresh take on Ireland attracted a wide readership. McCarthy's Bar sold over a million copies and he won Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2002.
He continued to perform and travel, internationally touring a one-man show, based on McCarthy's Bar. His second book, The Road to McCarthy, took him to four continents in search of far-flung McCarthys, taking in Cork and Belfast, Gibraltar, Morocco, New York, Tasmania, Montserrat, Montana and Alaska.
He never used a computer, preferring to write his books by longhand. Before falling ill earlier in the year, he had been planning a third book, also based on travel.
Last year in England, when asked by a fan where he might find a good Irish bar with an authentic Irish experience, McCarthy replied: "It's a long shot, but you could try Ireland."
McCarthy was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. He died at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton on Wednesday and is survived by his wife and three young daughters.
Pete McCarthy: born November 9th 1952; died October 6th, 2004.