Peter was born on 26 November 1909 in Whitechapel, London with the name Favel Goldberg. His parents were Abraham, from Bessarabia and Annie nee Appelbaum from Poland. Abraham became a naturalised British citizen in 1910. Peter was the middle child of five siblings and their father died when they were young in 1916.

Peter married Doris Rivy Webber in 1934 in Stepney and the 1939 Register shows them living in Weston-super-Mare where Peter worked as a school master. He was a government evacuation teacher employed by East Ham Council. Their son Keith was born in Buckinghamshire in 1943.

Peter’s death certificate states that he died at Princess Mary Hospital, Halton Camp in Wendover. He underwent a spinal fusion operation for lumbar spondylosis which caused a paralytic ileus (intestinal blockage) and his death.