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[Photo courtesy of DFNI]
News of the death of former International Tax Free Trader Editor Peter Tipthorp will sadden all those who remember him.
Trade media is one of the most competitive sectors you will find and the rivalry is sometimes less than the friendly kind.
Peter would have none of that – he was one of nature’s gentlemen, a genial, jolly soul who had been schooled in the more gentle journalistic world of interviewing movie stars such as Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn and many others. After a glass or two of wine he would always accede to requests to do his peerless Cary Grant impersonation. He belonged to a languid, now long-faded world of leisurely lunches and feature writing crafted over many days.
We worked as rival editors in the mid-1990s, me at Duty-Free News International (DFNI) which had been launched under the Raven Fox banner by former International Tax Free Trader executives Vivian Raven and Julian Fox in 1987. We hit it off and Peter would often counsel me to ‘slow down’ and keep life in balance. I wonder what he would make of the frenetic, modern digital media world.
In the 1980s International Tax Free Trader was a hugely powerful and successful trade title, dominating the marketplace and running the duty free industry’s annual global trade show. But the launch of the ‘by the trade, for the trade’ TFWA exhibition effectively spelled the beginning of the end for the title. Anticipating later market developments, it launched an Asian exhibition (and later still a China one).
Again it lost out to TFWA when the association controversially launched its own show in the mid-90s. International Tax Free Trader quietly slipped away and was eventually sold to Raven Fox (now owned by Euromoney) for £1. It was never published again.
Peter moved on to become Editor of Tableware International and I only saw him once or twice again, always upbeat, always smiling.
Peter, who passed away at 73, is survived by his wife Wendy, daughter Lisa and son Charlie. God rest his gentle soul.
Dear Martin,
Thank you for the lovely Obitory that you have given Peter. Always great fun, with a wicked sense of humour. He was truely a wonderful, loving husband and father and we are missing him greatly.
Kind regards
Wendy Thipthorp
What sad news. I remember being interviewed by Peter (in 1996 I think?) whilst heading up Virgin Atlantic’s retail department (I still have a copy of the article somehwere). When I read it I recall his passion and understanding and the fact that he made me out to be such a shining light! (very difficult to do I know!)…fond memories of a great and true Gentleman. If you are in touch with his family please pass on my condolences.