 Raised in the Nottinghamshire village of Sutton cum Lound, he was educated at Hydneye House School, Sussex, and Radley College near Oxford.Pegler gained his Private Pilot Licence aged 17 at Radley, and spent much of his time chasing LNER expresses along the East Coast Main Line.Accepted into Jesus College, Cambridge, to study law, the outbreak of World War II meant that he was instead commissioned into the Fleet Air Arm, training to fly Blackburn Skua fighter/dive-bombers.