Hudson and Halls

Peter John Hudson (8 November 1930 – September 1992) and David George Halls (14 October 1936 – 24 November 1993) were a television chef duo, whose cookery show, Hudson & Halls, ran on New Zealand television from 1976 to 1986.

Peter John Hudson was born in Toorak, Melbourne, Australia, on 8 November 1930.

He was adopted and did not know his parents.

Hudson's adopted mother, Mary Ethel Hudson, was a trained midwife who ran an adoption agency and arranged abortions.

At the time, abortions were illegal in New Zealand, and she was charged and tried for murder, along with the doctor she employed at her clinic to treat the clients who wanted a termination.

Peter's mother died when he was 10 years old, and her daughter, Biddy, took over the maternity business.

Hudson referred to Biddy, 21 years his senior, as his mother in later years.

At 17 years old, Hudson left school and got his first job at George's department store, in the soft furnishings department.

He was then sent to England, before returning to Melbourne to work as a shipping agent.

David George Halls was born in Epping, England, on 14 October 1936, to parents Hilda (née Manley) and George Taylor Halls.

His parents married on 13 June 1936 at St. Barnabas Church in Woodford Green, Essex.

During Halls' childhood, his mother spent time in hospital, and he took on the role of cooking Sunday lunch for the family.

His parents were in service, and when Halls was 10 years old, they became the caretakers of a large house, Theydon Hall.

The owners, Mr and Mrs French, treated Halls and his sister, Anne, as part of the family.

At the age of 15, his parents left Theydon Hall, returning to live in a council flat.

Halls left school and worked at the local Coop store.

Initially considering a move to Canada, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1959, after a spell working as a footwear salesman.

In 1962, Hudson and Halls met at a party in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand where Halls, by then a shoe designer, was living.

Hudson, considering a move to England, had flown in from Melbourne to visit a friend.

Hudson moved to Auckland, and they were soon living together, initially in Halls' flat in St Stephens Avenue, before they bought a small one bedroom cottage (with two single beds) with a swimming pool at 103 Brighton Road, Parnell.

The pair held parties at their home and became known for their hospitality and cooking.

Hudson and Halls opened a women's shoe shop, Julius Garfinkle's, in 1971 in the Strand Arcade, Queen Street, Auckland.

Later, in the same stretch of shops, they opened one of Auckland's first ice-cream parlours, Quagg's. By 1975, the pair had sold their businesses and they auditioned for the cookery slot on the TVNZ afternoon magazine programme Speakeasy by cooking a beef wellington.

The audition, and the beef wellington, were successful, and they were offered six 10 minute segments at $20 per programme.

In 1976, Hudson and Halls debuted on South Pacific Television (SPTV), in New Zealand, with a 30 minute cookery show, Hudson & Halls, featuring cooking and a celebrity guest interview.

The programme, which was popular in its original afternoon slot, was soon extended to an hour and moved to prime-time evening viewing.

The pair published cookbooks in 1977 (Hudson & Halls Cookbook), 1978 (Hudson & Halls Gourmet Cookbook), 1985 (Favourite Recipes from Hudson & Halls) and 1988 (Hudson & Halls: Beginnings, Middles And Ends).

The programme took a break between 1978 and 1980.

During this period, the duo opened The Hudson & Halls Oyster and Fish Restaurant in Ponsonby, Auckland.

The restaurant, known for its outside garden area, was only open at lunchtime and not in the evening.

As their popularity grew, they demanded more money from TVNZ.

The show was consistently ranked in the weekly top five programmes, and the duo were awarded a Feltex Best Entertainer of the Year Award in 1981.

Unlike other entertainers, Hudson and Halls did not use a script, and their volatile temperaments were part of the act.

The publicity material introducing the programme explained that the pair were unmarried and shared a house but their relationship was never specified.

When asked about their sexuality, the network said "We don't know if they are gay, but they certainly are merry".

Hudson and Halls bought a 17 acre farm in Leigh, Auckland (where they filmed their 1984 series) and a 1962 Bentley, despite neither of them having a valid driving licence.

Hudson and Halls appeared on TV telethons, endorsed products, and were cover subjects for women's magazines.

They hosted a morning radio show on Radio Pacific and Halls also briefly presented the television gameshow Blankety Blank.

They gained a cult following when the pair moved to produce their show on the BBC in the United Kingdom in 1987.

The duo were noted for bringing a camp humour, together with an element of slapstick, to the usually staid television cookery genre.