Peter John Badcoe was born on 11th January 1934 at Malvern, South Australia, the son of public servant Leslie Allen Badcoe and his wife Gladys Mary Ann May (née Overton).
Radicalism has been inherent in South Australian history from its founding as a free settlement. Based upon the English radical liberal thought of its founders, the State's reputation grew as a progressive colony and the first to entirely separate church from state.
Opening in 1933, inheriting the place of a cinema which had existed on the spot since 1910, the Rex Theatre was a popular cinema on Rundle Street that was demolished in 1961.