hedgehogs and mad hatters
you can all join in
for the benefit of mr. kite
bumpers
Incredible String Band
the song has no ending
Cream
Eric Clapton
Fairport Convention
liege & lief
i can ride my bike around the room
Mabel Greer's Toyshop
signs and wonders
the 14 hour technicolour dream
John Peel
clowns, lullabies and butterflies
El Pea
Burnin' Red Ivanhoe
A Gift From A Flower To A Garden
Family
Family: Music In A Doll's House

1939 - 2004

John Peel. BBC Home Page

"incredibly predictable porridge"
-John Peel describing BBC Radio 1's
mainstream music 

Peel Day @ the BBC. 13th October 2005
.

John Peel. OBE
1939 - 2004
 

John Peel
.

John Peel was born in Heswall near Chester in 1939 and after completing his military service in Britain in 1962, went to Texas and began working for WRR radio in Dallas. For the next three years he moved to various radio stations in America, among them KOMA in Oklahoma City and KMEN outside Los Angeles. He returned to Britain in 1967 and joined Radio London with the celebrated show The Perfumed Garden.

John was with Radio 1 from the beginning in 1967, establishing himself with the late night programme Top Gear. John was the first DJ to give exposure to punk, reggae and hip-hop, long before they crossed over into the mainstream. Almost anyone who is anyone in the world of music has recorded a session for Peel. John added a new string to his bow when in 1998 he became the presenter of a new magazine programme called Home Truths on Radio 4. The programme reflected on the trials, tribulations and delights of family life. He and it became firm favourites with the audience.

John regularly topped music paper Best DJ polls. In 1998 John was awarded an OBE. In 2002 he received the industry's highest accolade, when he was awarded the Sony Gold marking his outstanding contribution to radio over 35 years of broadcasting. John was awarded a host of Honorary Degrees - MA (University of East Anglia) Doctorates (Polytechnic University of East Anglia and Sheffield Hallam University), Hon. Degrees (Liverpool University, Open University, Portsmouth University, Bradford University) and a Fellowship (John Moores University Liverpool).

He most recently hosted his show on Radio 1 three nights a week and Home Truths on Radio 4.
John Peel died of a heart attack on the 25th October 2004, the age of 65, while on holiday in Peru, with his wife Shelia
He leaves behind his wife and four children.

 

"It would be absolutely impossible to write a history of the last 40 years of the British music scene without mentioning John Peel's name. He was one of those few people about whom you could truly say that the world would have been a much different place without him."

Jarvis Cocker. lead singer with Pulp

13 October 2005
 

homepage @ the BBC

John Peel
Peel was respected for championing new music

jpandrecords.gif

the sound clip you hear:
Top Gear Intro from
sometime in 1970.
with John Peel

his page at Radio Rewind.
with soundclips

the legendary programme broadcast
Radio London

Radio 1 paid tribute to the late
John Peel through a night of
live music at Maida Vale
on 16th December 2004

 (aka Big L),
was a station which broadcast
from a ship anchored
outside territorial waters
in the North Sea, off the
coast of Essex from 1964 to 1967
- long before any
local radio stations,
(let alone BBC versions) existed.

John Peel In These Days

the BBC website
still championing after all
this time

The Peelenium took four tracks
taken from each year of the
last century and was introduced
by The Voice, usually on tape
but with a live performance on a
Thursday night from Peel Acres.
Thus stretching from 1900 to
 the Millennium, it was broadcast
during the last hundred
shows of 1999

photographs ofmany of the
 bands John Peel would
champion over the years

details of every peel session
from 1992 to 2002

Related Links

JP's other radio programme.
heard on BBC Radio 4

A retrospective look at the
days of offshore radio

the heydays remembered.
a video interview with
Justin Hayward of
The Moody Blues
amongst others

this is where it all started

the unofficial history of BBC Radio 1

 layers of the onion is
©2003/2004/2005/2006/2007
all rights reserved