Aircheck Legends

Profile: John Peel OBE: Born August 30th 1939, in Heswall, Liverpool, John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, aka John Peel, was educated at public school in Shrewsbury, and, growing up, mostly brought up by a family nanny, due to his parent's commitments, first discovered his taste for music having heard Elvis Presley's 'Heartbreak Hotel'.  Later in his life, he summed up his feelings of that moment: "Everything changed when I heard Elvis.  Where there had been nothing, there was suddenly something".  After completing his military service from 1957-1959, and having spent some time working in a cotton mill, owned by his father, he went to Texas and began working for radio station WRR in Dallas where he remained for two years, hosting a show called 'Kat's Karavan'   - just at the time The Beatles' success was reaching it's peak.

For the next three years he moved to various radio stations in America, among them KLIF where he was resident Beatle expert and Liverpudlian, KLMA in Oklahoma City which claimed the biggest night-time audience of any radio station in the country.  Later he headed West to work for KMEN in San Bernadino, just outside Los Angeles.  He returned to Britain, formally adopted the surname Peel and in the Spring of 1967, joined Radio London off-shore presenting the highly acclaimed show 'The Perfumed Garden" which included eccentric musical styles and a focus on music emerging from the West Coast of America.  John also secured an exclusive first airing of 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' for Big L.

When new broadcast legislation forced the closure of Radio London, John joined BBC Radio 1 at it's September 30th 1967 launch, where he firstly presented a Monday-Friday 11pm to midnight show, and later established his popularity on the network with the "Top Gear" programme which he took over in February 1968, long before anyone thought of using the title for a TV motoring programme!   In those days, broadcasting rules were tough, so tough infact that it was a legal requirement for radio stations to limit the amount of time spent playing records.  John and his team met those requirements by bringing in bands to perform live - it was this broadcast restriction that was the nucleus for the programming style we have come to know and love.  In the early days of the station, he founded the short-lived Dandelion Record label and recorded the works of Gene Vincent with it.

As the decades passed, he helped establish the careers of scores of now popular bands, such as Joy Division, The Undertones, The Smiths, Blur and more recently, The White Stripes.  His return to the UK allowed him to focus once more on one of his passions - football, and particularly that of his favourite club - his hometown club - Liverpool FC.  It was in 1978 that The Undertones, a British Punk outfit released their now critically acclaimed anthem "Teenage Kicks", but it didn't reach the pop charts instantaneously.  John, never a fan of the charts anyway, played it relentlessly and always raved about both the song, and the band.  Band member Damian O'Neil recalls the feeling of "a mixture of disbelief, total excitement, and a large dose of trepidation" when it was first played.  The song finally peaked in the charts at number 31, spending 6 weeks in the chart from 21st October 1978, to be reissued again and reaching number 60 in July 1983.  

TV was mainly alien to John, especially where he appeared visually.  He presented "Top Of The Pops" in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and rumour has it, that he would get decidedly upset if he had to do the show with anyone other than Janice Long.  He did though appear with a select band of other presenters, probably, if this story is anything to by, under duress.  He even appeared on one TOTP, playing one of the instruments on Rod Stewart's hit 'Maggie May' - though you had to be on the ball tto spot him as the camera panned around.  More recently, John also provided voice-overs for TV commercials and documentaries, such as a well known brand of toothpaste ... oh to hell with it ... Aquafresh ... and as the voice-over for BBC1's (or should that now be BBC ONE's) 'Life Of Grime', which ran into a third series.  It's rumoured that John would never work on a commercial for a product he wouldn't use himself.  

In the mass cull of 'old school' Radio 1 presenters inflicted by Matthew Bannister following the resignation of Johnny Beerling, John Peel was obviously not placed in the hat and escaped the cull to remain at Radio 1, where he remained the longest serving Radio 1 DJ from it's launch in September 1967.  No one, even John himself, managed to work out why he stayed when so many went.  He was often heading on a collision course with station bosses and colleagues as his love of cutting edge music fuelled his drive to brand the mainstream output as "incredibly predictable porridge" and is believed to have had little regard for the likes of Tony Blackburn, David Hamilton and Simon Bates.  He was even known to break station rules - becoming the first DJ to play a record twice in a row.  

Regularly topping the music paper Best DJ votes, John won the 1993 Sony Award for Broadcaster of the Year and in 2002, he received the industry's highest accolade - the Sony Gold Award, marking his outstanding contribution to radio over 35 years of broadcasting.  Additionally, he's been voted Melody Maker's top DJ on 11 successive occasions.  His first regular programme for Radio 4 came in 1995 where he went on to spend two years presenting 'Offspring' which won him a Sony Award.  

As well as his Radio 1 work, in 1998, and not one to shirk a challenge, John began presenting Radio 4's Home Truths, a weekly magazine chronicling the lives of ordinary people around the UK.  The show received four Sony Radio Awards just one year after John took the helm.   In the same year, he received his Order of the British Empire (OBE) from HM The Queen and also received many honorary awards, including an MA by the University of East Anglia, Doctorates at the Polytechnic University of East Anglia and Sheffield Hallam University,   Hon. Degrees at the Liverpool, Open, Portsmouth, and Bradford Universities plus a Fellowship of Liverpool's John Moore University.

He received his Liverpool Hon. Degree of Doctor of Music in December 2000.  Professor John Tarn, Public Orator, described John as: "...a man who has been around for over 30 years as a disc jockey on Radio 1, whose popularity has grown over the years and who risks becoming a national institution, since he also commands a strong following on Radio 4.  It is fitting that, in a University where the study of popular music is an important strand in our own music department, we should include John Peel as a member of our academic community."

In 2001, John was diagnosed with type II diabetes - but this was never made as public as perhaps it would be with celebrities.  He merely continued with his daily life, taking the illness in his stride.  However, John did refer to it in his Radio Times column, only to be receive a deluge of calls from the UK Media.  "I've had an amazing amount of interest, an astonishing amount - a lot of TV and radio programmes and national newspapers.  I'm not desperate for publicity at any cost.  I just thought it would be inappropriate to do all that stuff and present myself as an expert in diabetes, which I'm certainly not", he told the Eastern Daily Press.  Having got his diabetes kit out for the reporter, he demonstrated how he'd learnt to dose himself with insulin.  "It is, frankly, a piece of cake.  I have a 6mm needle and I stick in into my fat, which nature has provided me with a generous quantity of.  I knew it would come in useful one of these days.  I've been quite keen to show people what I have to do.  Then they can realise that it's a routine, but it's not as frightening as people think it is.". 

When Mark Goodier announced and subsequently made his departure from the Radio 1 Top 40 show, station bosses began been filling the slot with just about anyone.  John Peel OBE was the only surviving member of the original Radio 1 line up from September 1967.  In his Big L (Radio London) offshore days aboard the Galaxy, he presented a chart show only to say he would NEVER present one again - saying he was not over-fond of current best-selling pop singles.  At Big L, John was allocated a few climbers which didn't match his musical taste - for example: 'Ciao Baby' by The Montanas.  Despite all of this, Radio 1 finally persuaded John to present a Top 40 show on January 12th 2003. The ex-perfumed gardener had successfully avoided doing any chart rundowns for the duration of his 35-year Radio 1 career, but agreed to present the January 12th 2003 chart as a one-off only.

Aged 63, the broadcaster said 'I'm really looking forward to it.'  John was a champion of underground music whilst at Radio 1, and he had a rather healthy cynical attitude towards chart pop.  He often mocked performers when on BBCTV's Top Of The Pops.

So it seemed then that Peely would go on to surpass the efforts of Jo Whiley, the first woman to present the chart show, who cut a Europop tune short because she didn't like it that much.  Peel was scheduled to present the show from London rather than his Suffolk home, which he referred to on-air as Peel Acres.  A Radio 1 spokesman said: "It's been really good having a variety of our presenters fronting The Official UK Top 40 and we're really pleased that John is going to be doing it. Everyone's bringing their own individual style to the show and we're sure John will do so too."

Cometh the moment, NOT cometh the man.  At 3:50, Rajesh Mirchandani announced that Scott Mills would be presenting the Chart - frantic re-checks showed that the Radio Times said John would be doing it, SKY Digital said he would be doing it, and BBCi said he'd be doing it on news pages - Radio 1's home page though, confirmed Rajesh's statement when AIRCHECK wasn't satisfied that no announcement was forthcoming at 4:00pm upon the start of the Chart Show.

A visit to a busier than usual Top 40 chat room at BBCi, on getting a word in edgeways, and when asking why John wasn't on the show, received a response as follows: '...the BBC didn't want too many people doing the show before it was re-launched.....'   There were no further responses despite questioning from interested parties on line.  

And so, no history was made after all the hype.  We'd have thought that by the time that decision was made, it would've been too late!  There had already been 'too many' presenters doing the show since Mark Goodier left.  And so John continued with his own shows on Radio 1, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 23:00-01:00, and on Radio 4, 'Home Truths', aired Saturday mornings from 09:00-10:00am, repeated Mondays at 11:00pm, his shows laced with light hearted sarcasm, and tongue-in-cheek wit, and the down-to-earth 'as he was' style that was very much the John Peel both in and out of the studio.   His sustained career was marked once more in December 2003 when he was inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.  

Suddenly and without warning, on the evening of Tuesday 26th October 2004, news broke that John, on a working holiday with his wife Sheila in Cuzco, Peru, 350 miles southeast of the Peruvian capital, Lima, had suffered a heart attack from which he never recovered.  He was 65.  Dr. Alcides Vargas made valiant attempts to revive him, but he was pronounced dead on the way to a local hospital.  Peru was somewhere he'd always wanted to visit.  

Tributes immediately began pouring in, particularly from members of the bands he'd helped so much to become established, and beyond.  Firstly, Radio 1 controller, Andy Parfitt described John as "...a legend.." and that his influence "...towered over the development of popular music for nearly four decades.  His contribution to modern music and music culture is immeasurable.  Hopeful bands all over the world sent their demo tapes to John knowing that he really cared.  His commitment and passion for new music only grew stronger over the years.  In fact, when I last saw him, he was engaged in a lively debate with fellow DJs over the state of new music today.  John Peel was a broadcasting legend. I am deeply saddened by his death as are all who work at Radio 1."  Radio 1 played 'Teenage Kicks' by The Undertones in tribute to the star on the day of his death.  Over on the sister station, BBC Radio 2, Steve Wright also played a compilation of tunes in his memory, including of course, that same Undertones track. 

The BBC Director of Radio & Music, Jenny Abramsky said: "John Peel was a unique broadcaster whose influence on Radio 1 could be felt from it's very first days.  He nurtured musicians and listeners alike, introducing them to new sounds.  He had a remarkable rapport with all his listeners.  Everyone at BBC Radio is devastated by the news.  John is simply irreplaceable.  Our hearts go out to Sheila and his children".  Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC at the time said: "We are all very shocked and saddened by the news of John's death.  He was one of the giants of radio and will be missed, not just by everyone at the BBC, but by millions of listeners of all ages".

Colleague Andy Kershaw said that John's death was: "..a huge cultural loss.  John Peel was the most important figure in British music since the birth of rock & roll.  Full stop.  He is more important than any artist because he was the enthusiast who discovered so many of those whom we think of as the big figures of pop over the past 40 years", said Kershaw in daily newspaper The Independent.

Nicky Campbell got to know John considerably well, having followed on from him doing 8:00pm-10:00pm, with Nicky doing 10:00pm-Midnight.  "He was erudite, knowledgable and one of the most genuine people I've met in this or any other business.  He could be achingly funny..." he told BBC Online, "..he'd make me laugh so much and always the ascerbic observation was delivered with the pointed and yet disappointed John Peel wryness.  Johnny Beerling, the then station controller, had a command posted up on the studio wall in bright colours to remind us all not to get too carried away.  It read: 'One thought - one link'.  John found that hilarious and for Peelie to receive such a bumptious and presumptious instruction was plainly ludicrous.  He was a deeply thoughtful man with a fascinating intelligence.  His command of the mother tongue, forged by a post-war upbringing and then the radicalism of the 1960s, and throughout a manifest love of language, was inspiring to listen to.

He was a master craftsman, a master communicator, and married to his perpetual adolescent love for the musically marginal was a wonderful combination.  A great guy to have a good gossip with, whether about politics, or the current state of Radio 1.  I remember him one telling me playfully but with utter sincerity that another of his colleagues was "the most dangerous man he had ever met".  He wasn't wrong, but then he knew right and wrong.  He hated bullies and charlatans and his humanity shone though all his work and came through the radio with every word and record he played.  The Monday evening show after the Hillsborough tragedy was a piece of broadcasting I will never forget.  He said nothing at the start of his show.  He just played a record.  A long, slow record.  It was Aretha Franklin's heart breaking gospel vesion of "You'll Never Walk Alone".  I looked through the glass from my adjacent studio and John was just weeping - silently.  So were all of us - his listeners.  Nothing more needed to be said.  We have lost one of our greatest broadcasters."

Fellow DJ and Glastonbury Festival co-host Jo Whiley paid tribute to her colleague and friend: "John was simply one of my favourite men in the whole world - as a music fan and presenter, he was simply an inspiration". 

Former lead singer with The Undertones, and former Radio Authority representative Feargal Sharkey said that he was: "...the single most important broadcaster we have ever known."  Bass player with the band, Michael Bradley was shocked: "He was a very funny, very warm man and we will always be grateful for what he did for The Undertones.  He always had his finger on the pulse of the music industry and the fact that Radio 1 played The Undertones, The White Stripes and The Strokes today, showed just how relevant he remained throughout his career."

Damon Albarn, of Blur said quite categorically that he: "...would never be forgotten.  John Peel's patronage was, for me, like countless other musicians, one of the most significant things that happened to us in our careers.  The World is going to be a poorer place with his sudden departure.  I will miss him deeply.  I want to send my heartfelt sympathy to his lovely family.  John's memory will never be forgotten because he had the spirit of music in him."

 The quieter half of the Gallagher brothers, of Oasis, Noel, said: "John Peel was a rare breed amongst radio DJs.  His contribution to introducing new music to music fans in this country has been phenomenal and he will be sadly missed..."  Elvis Costello summed up the fallen star as: "...a great man, a fabulous curmudgeon - he was as rare as the music he loved...the contradiction of every bad thing you could say about radio.  He had an open mind about music, whether he was bringing the listener the Incredible String Band, The Fall, Mike Hart or Echo & The Bunnymen, and countless bands that appeared only to be heard on his great shows."

Pulp were discovered by John when a young and unsigned Jarvis Cocker handed him a demo to be played on the radio.  The band were duly signed shortly after the airplay.  Jarvis, paying tribute, said that he "...stuck up for the 'sore thumbs' of the musical scene.  It would be 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".  "If it wasn't for John Peel..." said band member Bernard Sumner, "...there would be no Joy Division or New Order.  He was one of the few people to give bands that played alternative music a chance to get heard, and he continued to be a champion of cutting edge music throughout his life."

Prime Minster Tony Blair channeled his thoughts through a Downing Street spokesman, expressing that he was: "...genuinely saddened by the news.  Mr. Blair's view is that John Peel was a genuine one-off, whether on Radio 1 or Radio 4 - a warm and decent human being.  He was a unique voice in British broadcasting and used that voice to unearth new talent and different subjects, bring them to the airwaves, and make them accessible to a much wider audience."

John's favourite football club, Liverpool FC released their own tribute to the DJ, who not only championed music, but the football club and the City of Liverpool too.  The club statement read: "He always championed the name of the club and the City, and will be sorely missed.  Our sympathies go to his family and friends on this very sad day.  Whilst John was a Reds fan, Sheila, his wife was an ardent Ipswich Town fan.  Club chairman David Sheepshanks said: "It's utterly tragic to hear about the death of John Peel.  I will always think of John as one of life's good guys and for me a kind of hero since his offshore radio days.  A delightful, gentle and modest man, John was a dear friend to the club, and although his first allegiance was to the red of Liverpool, his wife Sheila, and many other friends in Suffolk, succeeded in nearly turning him 'blue and white'.  The club sends it's deepest sympathy and best wishes to Sheila and his family."

John Peel was never one to praise or boast about his career, once being quoted as saying: "You can either see it as selfless dedication to public service broadcasting, or a shocking lack of ambition - it's both of those things.  What I do is ideally suited to Radio 1, and nobody has ever tried to lure me away, anyway."  His passion and interest, for the kind of music most other presenters would have backed away from over time, never waned, of the kind spanning all ages and of the type that people half his age would, to large extents, have found abhorrent.  Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Peel stayed at Radio 1 where so many others fell by the wayside, overrun with over 200 demo CDs per week from bands, encouraged by his passion and drive and keen for radio exposure and to be taken in to Peel's world.  Despite this respect, John was continuously modest about his influence on the British music scene and beyond.  "You get a lot of credit for putting these bands on the radio..." he said, "...but the fact is that it's like being the editor of a newspaper - you don't claim credit for the news.  It's not up to me to discover them - bands discover themselves.  They make the records, the records arrive.  I think 'Let's play it on the radio' and when they come over here, I think 'Let's book them for a session.  It's very little to do with me to be honest".  He even appealed to rock fans across the other side of the Atlantic, in America.   

The Internet, when compared to John's broadcasting history, covers only a small proportion of his time on-air - despite this comparatively short time, American listeners tuned in via the 'net in their droves - and his 'Peel Sessions', four or five tracks recorded by bands invited by John, were legendary both sides of the Pond.  The sessions were sometimes live, sometimes recorded, sometimes rough and ready and largely from unfamiliar artists, but this only endeared him to his audience more, and even found their way into 'bootlegged' recording as well as commercial releases.  The bands who appeared received sizeable pay packets for their time and work though.  The list of band names is far too long to be shown here.   American listeners were also able to listen to John via the BBC World Service on Short Wave.  And every year, John would present his "Festive 50", his very own list of his favourite tunes of the preceding twelve months.  Speaking about the 'Peel Sessions, John once said: "Over the years, we've had almost everybody, except The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, of the kind of big bands of the past.  More recently, Oasis - I never really thought Oasis were much good to be honest, so they didn't do one".

After John's death, close family members gathered at his home, 'Peel Acres', the scene of an recent extension housing his once ever expanding record collection, and a home broadcast studio, (from where he also broadcast regularly for Germany's Radio Eins) in the village of Great Finborough, near Stowmarket, in Suffolk.  Amongst his collection is a very rare Pink Floyd promo of 'Ummagumma' which houses a live performance of 'Interstellar Overdrive'.  He was a paying member of the Pink Floyd fan club.   Villagers were understandably in sombre mood whilst also remembering their famous neighbour who had spent half in life there.  His direct neighbour Sandy Lord recalled how John's wife Sheila had supported her when her own husband Bob, died of a heart attack in 1999.  "She was one of the first people up here.  She was making sure I was all right - you couldn't have asked for a nicer neighbour.  If you heard John, he thought the world of Sheila.  They are a very close family.  There was a big marquee to celebrate John's 65th Birthday and there were a lot of people there".  John also arranged for the music at her husbands funeral to be recorded.  "He had a fantastic way with words - he had no side to him whatsoever, and always seemed to make you smile or laugh when he said something.

Alison Jones, a long-time babysitter for the Peel household said: "John was a family man who loved the peace and quiet of the small village.  He was a very community-spirited man.  Everybody knew him and he would always stop to chat.  He often used to go to the local pub.  He was a decent kind of guy and didn't want any hype surrounding him.  He was just John, that's how everyone round here knew him, not as anything special.  I think he was just happy to be in a quiet community - he appreciated the country atmosphere and the village life.  His death has come as a great shock to the community he was so actively involved in and he will be greatly missed.  

Robin Fisher, recalled trips made by the village youth club, of which John was the manager in the 1970s, where the 20 odd members went to Wales, Yugoslavia and Cornwall: "He was a popular man in the village.  He always had the time to speak to you.  He loved football and we would often chat about that even though he supported Liverpool".  

John left behind his widow, 2nd wife Sheila, to whom he'd been married for 30 years, and four grown up children - William (born 1976), Alexandra (1978), Thomas (1980) and Florence (1982).  Affectionately, he referred to his wife on-air as "Pig" for her laugh - and she picked a 78rpm record for his show in a slot titled 'The Pig's Big 78".  He once held the tongue-in-cheek belief that Elvis could have been sorted out by a couple of weeks of accompanying him to the grocery store and picking up the kids from school.  With humour like this, it's a mark of how little a celebrity he actually saw himself, that he used to send postcards to those that wrote to him personally, giving a phone number and signed 'John Peel - The World's Most Boring Man."

Shortly before his death, he signed a $2.8m or £1.6m contract to write his autobiography which was due for release at Christmas 2005.  Although he'd started it, probably whilst listening to favourite radio soap, 'The Archers', Undertones band member Mickey Bradley said: "..but knowing John Peel, it would have taken him a while."  Also before his death, he'd regularly appeared in the Radio Times, and his most recent, and infact, last BBC World Service show boasted a playlist including such obscurities as "Get Down On It" by The Woggles, "Fear On A Bridge" by Three Inches of Blood, and Kris TT's 'Tomorrow Morning'.  He'd also just been voted the nation's fifth favourite Scouser, this despite his residence in Suffolk.  

Ever proud of his Scottish roots, in January of 2004, he held a Burns Night special on Radio 1.  His assistant Hermeet Chadha, from Cumbernauld, made the suggestion and John jumped at the opportunity.  His granny, Joan Murray, was a Glaswegian, John also followed Meadowbank when they were in the depths of the Scottish Third Division - he was fed up of Liverpool winning everything, and so changed his allegiance for a time.  There was a line drawn though: "I can wear the Murray tartan, but I'd never wear a kilt.  I look enough of a twat as it is."

Also before his death, John agreed to take part in a series of television ads for the National Blood Service.  The reason for this was because the arrival of his first son, William, in 1976, almost caused the death of his wife after she haemorrhaged and needed a transfusion of seven pints of blood.  Speaking about the commercial, which took several attempts to get the 15 words out due to his overall emotions, he said: "If I get involved in anything, it's the local stuff - I'm just no good at it as I'm a shy man.  They want you to be the face of it and jump about but I'm no good at that".  Because of the transfusion, Sheila made a full recovery and was pregnant again with their second child, Alexandra, born 1978.  Son Thomas followed in 1980 with daughter Florence in 1982.  

After his death, Radio 1 output noticeably changed.  In amongst the run-of-the-mill chart hits and populars came the inclusion of evident vinyl from the likes of Peel regulars Joy Division and The Undertones.  He was the only person who'd ever be likely to play such tunes, and, unless in tribute to the great man, no-one will again.  

Even before his death, John had already discussed what he'd like on his tombstone.  As 'Teenage Kicks' was his favourite tune, he expressed a wish for the stone to bear the song's first lines: 'Teenage kicks, so hard to beat....'  The great man's funeral service was open to members of the public and took place at 1:00pm on Friday 12th November 2004 at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.  The service was followed by a private family ceremony.  A mix of music stars from four decades mingled with broadcasting celebrities at the funeral - artists including Robert Plant, Billy Bragg, Feargal Sharkey and The White Stripes were joined by broadcasting colleagues Johnnie Walker, Paul Gambaccini, Andy Kershaw and Bob Harris in a congregation of around 1,000 mourners in the 90-minute service.

There were 500 fans listening via PA speakers outside the Church, who applauded as his coffin was carried out to the sound of 'Teenage Kicks', with Undertones lead singer Feargal Sharkey in tears.  The funeral reflected John's love for Liverpool FC.  Tributes came from Paul Gambaccini, John's brother Alan, and John's children.  Other music in the service included Howlin Wolf's 'Going Down Slow', Roy Orbison's 'Running Scared', The Stowmarket Choral Society singing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2 and Mozart's Ave Verum and there was also a recording of Liverpool fans on the Kop singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.  Paul Gambaccini said: "You broke more artists than any other broadcaster in the history of radio.  Every artist once needed John Peel.  You helped more artists become themselves than anyone else."  Paul then listed a string of performers championed by the broadcasting legend including Elton John, Marc Bolan, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. "I would like to know what it is that was in the Liverpool drinking water that gave us the greatest group of all time, The Beatles, the funniest DJ of all time, Kenny Everett, and you - our greatest broadcaster."

John's brother - Alan Ravenscroft told those that had gathered of his "extraordnary brother" adding: "The response to John's death has been absolutely overwhelming.  It made me think of Princess Diana."  John's family said: "We have taken great comfort in recent weeks from the messages of support that we have received from around the World.  John was loved by so many for a multitude of reasons.  To us, he was a loving husband, father and above all, friend.  We are going to miss him terribly."   

The BBC's Director of Radio & Music, Jenny Abramsky said: "John Peel was simply the most influential music broadcaster in the UK.  His support for young musicians was unique.  For generations, he defined Radio 1.  He never lost his enthusiasm or his curiosity.  His generosity to so many young producers and performers was matched by his generosity to his listeners.  The rapport he established with the Radio 4 audience, that encouraged them to share their inner most thoughts and experiences, was remarkable.  All his listeners, as well as his colleagues, feel they have lost a very special friend."

Radio 1 Controller Andy Parfitt: "Over the past couple of weeks, Radio 1 has been overwhelmed by messages from John's listeners.  They are a moving mix of the deep sadness that we all share and happy memories of how he inspired or changed lives in some way.  These messages that fill our screens, message boards and postbags are a testament to John and how he touched people's lives across many generations.  The broadcasting and music communities often use the word 'legend'.  In John Peel's case, it hardly seems enough."

Presenter Jo Whiley: "Everytime I think of John, I'm reduced to tears at the thought of never sharing another Glastonbury night with him again - that I can never turn on the radio and through his show, be part of his world again.  I adored John, and I can't believe how much it hurts to have lost him.  He was a one-off who inspired me greatly in the ways of music and family.  I miss him now and always will."

Presenter Steve Lamacq: "The real testimony to John is that so many people considered him a friend - even if they'd never met him.  He was such a likeable man on-air - and led you share a few insights into his life - that by the end of the programme, it felt like you'd just shared an intimate evening in the pub with him while he put his favourite record on the jukebox.  Or more likely a beaten up old ghetto-blaster." 

John Peel - 1939-2004

...with acknowledgements to the UK and World Press & Media & BBC Online