As question marks were raised about eggs as high-cholesterol food, the Victorian Egg Board enlisted the services of artist, author and television chef Peter Russell-Clarke to promote their product.  He published an Egg Cook Book in 1979 and it is claimed that sales of eggs rose 5 per cent in three years.

In the course of his career, Peter Russell-Clarke (born 1935) has been a freelance cartoonist and illustrator, the creative director of a couple of advertising agencies, executive chef of a Melbourne restaurant (where he claimed to have refused to serve Prince Charles because he didn’t have a booking) and a TV chef.

His five-minute cooking show, Come and Get It, ran on the ABC for nine years in the 1980s, with a total of more than 900 episodes. He has written many books, including cookbooks.

Peter Russell-Clarke has promoted a range of food products. His connections in the advertising world no doubt helped him secure contracts with the Victorian Egg Board and the Australian Dairy Corporation.  According to his speaking profile he has also written, directed and presented commercials for the Citrus Board, Honey Board, Rice Board, Tea Council, Avocado Council and Macadamia Nut Corporation.

Russell-Clarke’s image as an all-around nice guy was somewhat dented in 2008 when a blooper reel popped up online, littered with swear words. Colleagues of mine who had worked with him on advertising campaigns were not fans. It seems his rudeness to film crews was legendary, although many articles about him have spun this as “good-natured crassness”.