John Peel RIP
 

From: http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/djsn2p.htm

John Peel Born 30th August 1939, in Heswell, Cheshire, he was educated at
Shrewsbury public school and did his National Service in the Royal
Artillery. He then worked at Townhead Mill in Shropshire before moving to
America. His first job there was with the Dallas Cotton Exchange but his
love of the blues led to him making a guest appearance on a local radio
station. When the Beatles took off in America, an English accent, especially
an almost Liverpudlian one, was much in demand. John became the resident
Beatles expert on KLIF in Dallas. A full time job on KOMA in Oklahoma City
followed, then KMEN in San Bernardino. An unsuccessful marriage prompted his
return to the UK where a neighbour of his mother's put him in touch with
Radio London. On the basis of his experience on American radio, John was
immediately given a job and joined the station in March 1967. As always, the
newest recruit had two air-shifts. John deputised for whichever DJ was on
shore leave and presented the midnight-2am show. While working in America
John had become very aware of the music of the "underground". It was the
hippy era and dozens of new bands were emerging. John began to feature the
best of this new music on his late night programme which came to be known as
The Perfumed Garden. It immediately won a large and loyal following and was
hugely influential. He stayed with Radio London until its close-down when he
became part of the founding team of Radio One. (The Cats Caravan web-site
did have a recording of the last ever Perfumed Garden but has either moved
or closed down. Does anyone know which?) More than thirty years later John
is still on Radio One, the only survivor since the start, and still playing
new, challenging, music. He has also presented shows on the World Service
for many years and hosts the weekly Home Truths magazine programme on BBC
Radio Four. John was awarded an OBE in 1998. There is another photo of John
in Dave Hawkins' photo album. Many club disc-jockeys release CDs of their
mixes but now the DJ with the most idiosyncratic taste of all has joined
them. A recording of John spinning the discs at Fabric was released on 2nd
December 2002. As you would expect, it is a varied selection, including
Motown (The Velvelettes), doo-wop (The Capris), indie (Joy Division),
reggae, funk, rock, the Kop Choir singing You'll Never Walk Alone - the
anthem of John's beloved Liverpool FC - and his all-time favourite: Teenage
Kicks by The Undertones. Details and audio clips can be found at
www.fabriclondon.com or it can be ordered through Amazon. The Radio Academy,
a trade body for people who work in the industry, has recently launched its
own Hall of Fame honouring those who have made an outstanding contribution
to UK radio. John Peel was inducted into this august group in December 2003.
You can find details here
http://www.radioacademy.org/halloffa...l_j/index.html.

26th October 2004: We have just heard the sad news of John's death. The BBC
has reported that he died of a heart-attack while on a working holiday with
his wife in Peru. The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame will be paying its own
tribute to him as soon as possible but, in the meantime, you can read more
about one of the great broadcasters of the last forty years on the BBC, NME
and Guardian web sites. You can also pay your own respects here.


Click on site for audio clips:
John Peel in The Perfumed Garden on Radio London on 18th July 1967. Tape
courtesy of Ray Andrews (duration 3 minutes 6 seconds)
John Peel ending the last ever Perfumed Garden on Radio London on 14th
August 1967. The programme had continued through the night on this one
occasion and John was about to hand over to Chuck Blair with the final
Breakfast Show. Recording kindly provided by Albie Somerset (duration 3
minutes 55 seconds)