submitted on Sat, 05/03/2008 - 15:32 in Obituaries Niche by BossyDiva 
As one half of the electrical appliances company Russell Hobbs, Peter Hobbs
became more than just a household name but a household presence too — the
company’s kettles and coffee percolators are staple items on kitchen
benchtops around the country. Russell Hobbs burst on to the scene in the
1950s, and its appliances stood as iconic symbols of Britain’s boom period
of postwar prosperity. It was Hobbs who first approached William Russell,
and, becoming business partners in 1952, they managed to embed heating
elements into ceramic, leading to the first coffee percolator that kept
coffee hot once it had dripped through, and the first fully automatic kettle
that safely switched itself off when the water reached boiling point.
Source: Times
