Peter was so incredibly supportive. He wasn't my DPhil supervisor (a DPhil is the Oxford equivalent of a PhD) but he urged me to start writing up and spent an hour with me each week during that period encouraging me to get my DPhil finished and submit. He would also listen to me practice my talks for the kinderseminar - all far beyond the call of duty. He was a bit like a kindly grandfather to all us algebraists and had a wonderful way of talking about and explaining group theory.
Don't know about the UK,but here in Denmark they are quite different degrees (even if they have the same etymological origin). A PhD. here does not give you the title Doctor, while a doctorate does.
I always feel I have to qualify, because when you say you have a DPhil, people often don't know what you are talking about! Technically I have a DPhil not a PhD though even though they amount to the same thing.
