Emma Peel, My First Fantasy Pin-Up

One of the most significant TV events  for me was in 1961 which saw the beginning of The Avengers when Patrick McNee strode onto the small screen as John Steed complete with bowler hat and umbrella and every inch the English pre-Bond secret agent gentleman.  In the early days hew as assisted by Cathy Gale, who was played by Honor Blackman in a sexy black leather cat suit but she left the show and went on to be Pussy Galore in Goldfinger and that introduced the delectable Emma Peel played by Diana Rigg.

Emma Peel (Diana Rigg, born 23rd July 1938) was my first fantasy pin-up and I used to scour the television magazines and newspapers for pictures of her that I cut out assembled into a scrap book of cuttings that I carried with me at all times.  Once (about 1966, I guess) some school pals happened to mention this to the English teacher, Mr David Howe, who demanded sight of the book and immediately confiscated it for a couple of days.  I thought that this was some sort of punishment but I have subsequently reached the conclusion that he must surely have shared my fantasy and probably spent a couple of enjoyable evenings with the book himself.

This was David Howe, he was a nice man who wore a checked jacket with appropriate leather patches on the elbows and always had an assortment of pens in his top pocket.  Sometimes he used to wear his black school teachers gown but he was a young man and he never looked comfortable in it.

I don’t know what happened to the book!

One response to “Emma Peel, My First Fantasy Pin-Up

  1. Obviously my first pinup girl would have been Dr Zira from The Planet Of The Apes.

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