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| It was a shock to
everyone when John Peel died so suddenly. Micheal Heatley beat
came out with his book very quickly. Sheila Ravenscroft and her
family were left with the task of finishing off John's autobiography
from his notes, also incorporating sections he had finished.
John
Peel A Life In Music by Michael Heately A
review by the wireless waffler The
book has a lovely black and white picture on the dust jacket of John. It
is an unofficial biography but covers his life in full.
It does give details of his childhood and work on American Radio
as well as his life on Big L and Radio One. It
is a pity that the author did not take the trouble to interview his
fellow presenters on Big L and expand on this section. It moves very
quickly to his perfumed garden programmes and does not cover much of his
work on daytime top 40 programmes.
I well remember John occasionally breaking into a mock American
voice on a daytime programme between records in a professional mocking
tone. Offshore Radio from the MV Galaxy lasted for around 3 years and it
is covered in a few pages in this book. If
you need an introduction to all of the important new groups and music
over almost 40 years it is covered in detail here.
I enjoyed reading this but was a bit disappointed that it did
not cover more details about his work in the studios and with
colleagues at Radio 1. It gives insight into how he transferred to
Home Truths on Radio 4. I
was most interested to read all about the formation of his record
company Dandelion. I also remember that before shows he hosted at the
Paris studios in London the Dandelion catalogue was played on the
public address system. He
does mention that Peel was in the process of writing his
autobiography. He
highlights John Peel's dislike of technology and how his family were
his constant IT help desk. Some
suggestion is made that Peel also admits to having lost 15,000 words
with the tap of one wrong key! John has the sympathy here of most
computer users. It is a
pity that all pcs are not like the old brother word processor I am
using to prepare this review in my garden.
If you turn it off everything you type remains. I
used to meet up with John Peel occasionally when one of my staff was
on leave. I remember checking that his scripts were in with despatches
of his programmes to Radio Bremen. They were typed on a manual
typewriter and you could see the letters indented into the paper at
the back. Clearly
John preferred a manual typewriter, mind you that was in the 1980s. here
is a long section of tributes to John Peel and his life from friends and
artists. This could have included some from listeners.
In common with most tributes after somebody's death they are all
complimentary. Every
festive fifty from 1976 to 2003 is included in full. In a way this is
feedback from listeners who were asked to send in their favourite tracks
in November. They were
supposed to reflect the best music of that year, Peel was occasionally
concerned that they were too nostalgic. The
16 pages of black and white and colour pictures are superb quality.
There is a picture of the Radio London ship.
Of particular interest to me is the Radio One line up of the
first Djs in 1967 and thirty years later. Quite a few of the originals
are missing -but not John. We have been promised the official biography but presumably this is still being prepared and I trust I have some cash to spare when this is published. Published by Michael O'Mara Books Ltd
March 2006 |
JOHN REMEMBERED IN BRIGHTON
Not only was John remembered in print - here is just one example of how much an influence he had upon music and his audience. This is a pub in Brighton, very near to the Station in the Laines which has a picture of him painted on the side of the building. Please click on both of the pictures to enlarge them and view them in their full majesty! The second picture which is a general shot of the pub also shows a tribute to George Best.
John Peels own autobiography finally came out "Margrave of the Marshes"
The waffler managed to order a copy through his public library and was very pleased to obtain it almost as soon as it was published, unfortunately my review has been a long time coming to this publication and website. Michael Heatley's book seems to outline far more of the pop group and music side of things. Margrave focuses on the Overall it is a lovely hard back book with a good collection of pictures and it is organised into chapters. Unfortunately the years are not presented as an author would do, chronologically. Occasionally the years and reminiscences are jumbled up in places. This to me does not dilute the value of this book. It is the work and ideas of John Peel. Sadly unfinished and salvaged from his drafts and notes. It is written by the love of his life, Sheila and his family. It is a moving and touching story and also describes the loves and life of this extraordinary pop and family man. (continues in next column)
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Michael Heatley must have had access to some of Johns notes because several of the reminiscences appear in each book. I can identify with John's first meeting with his father. His Dad was off at war and one day returned on a motorbike. John was amazed at the site of this man riding up to the front door and called out to his mother something like "who is that funny man". She replied, "he is your father dear" My Father was not away at war, but used to work hard running a family business. He used to go to work early in the morning and came back after I went to bed when I very young. I too asked my mother over breakfast once "mummy who is that funny man?" - obviously only seeing him on a weekend. The print in the book is spread out very generously and the typeset is very clear. I just love the picture of John on the dust jacket - with headphones on and also with Sheila sitting behind him. So many times he affectionately referred to her as "the pig" on air. It was interesting to read about how they met and how affectionately in love they both were. A great read, but if you are looking for something with more detail and that flows better then I recommend the Michael Heatley book mentioned at the start of this article. I am looking out for this cheaper, because I would love to have this on my bookshelf but would not pay full price for it. I notice on Amazon it is already selling secondhand for around £5.99. The postage there still makes it an expensive buy. Finally from our Hall of Fame my own remarks on the death of this great broadcaster. By the way if you can try to listen to his last Perfumed Garden show that he did on the pirate station Radio London in 1967 - it is a great moment of Peels broadcasting career. JOHN PEEL: DJ on Radio London in 1967(Died of a heart attack on holiday in Peru 26.10.04). here could not have been a more modest and content broadcaster than John Peel. I wish I could have some recordings of the normal pop shows he did on the offshore station Radio London in the 1960s when he occasionally presented programmes in a mock US dj style. I was privileged to be able to go to the BBC In Concert shows which were at the Paris Studios in Lower Regent Street London. Every fourth show was hosted by John Peel. Alan Black, Mike Harding and Bob Harris also took their turns at introducing the live bands on stage. The shows were re-recorded for re-broadcast in 1967 on 247mtrs am. It was these shows which some producers loving locked away in cupboards for years, along with other special recordings made for BBC broadcast which now form part of the marvellous BBC Radio 1 Archives which were fused together by one of my ex-colleagues Phil Lawton at the BBC. In the seventies I worked in a department where John would regularly bring in his shows on tape along with his typewritten music and speech running orders loving typed on a manual typewriter. These were for Radio Bremen and other foreign stations. He treated everyone the same and would never aspire to be anything other than another human being. A member of my staff, young, and totally unaware of who this great man was rushed up to him with an autograph book. This in itself was not in the least professional thing for a member of staff to do. John took it in his stride and he signed it "from the world's most boring man". I also used to pass John in the street up in town and it was good to see that this presenter was at home in the same part of town and in the same pubs that I and many thousands of others used. Home Truths was a delightful programme and hopefully will be kept on air, although it will be sad that John can no longer present it. Today was a sad day for broadcasting. I extend my grateful thanks to John for his superb contribution to discovering pop and rock artists. I send my heart felt condolences to his wife and family.
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