Pen name Peter Hay Name Peter Hay Period (1984-present) | Nationality British | |
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Subject Steam RailwaysIndustrial History | ||
Occupation Writer and Businessman | ||
Peter Thomas Hay (born 31 August 1932) is an authority on British steam railways. He is author to numerous books and articles on the subject. His Steaming Through series of books is based on the archive of railway photographs taken himself in the 50's and 60's.
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Biography
Peter Hay was born in Brighton, Sussex to John Edward Hay (Mayor of Brighton 1953) and May Hollingdale. He is brother to the former Conservative MP John Albert Hay. Evacuated to Toronto, Canada during World War II, he was subsequently educated at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School and the London School of Economics. He served in the Royal Navy as a Commander, and worked on the railways including holding the position of Station Master at Pevensey. He then worked at the Ministry of Transport before leaving to concentrate on writing, lecturing and running the family business. He married Patricia Mary Sweeney, they had four children, Fionnuala (b. 1965), Lawrence (b. 1967), Daniel (b. 1969) and Teresa (b. 1972). In 2011 at the age of 79 while conducting Industrial History research at the Minllyn slate mine in North Wales, Peter and his son Daniel both suffered a fall in the mine resulting multiple bone fractures. They exited the mine with their injuries and were rescued by a Sea King from C Flight of No. 22 Squadron RAF Air Sea Rescue in Anglesey and taken to Bangor hospital for treatment. The author subsequently appeared on "Episode 2" of the BBC Television programme 'Helicopter Rescue' broadcast on 22 Feb 2012.