John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE (30 August, 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was a British disc jockey, radio presenter, and journalist.

Beginning of British career

He returned to England in 1967 to work for the offshore pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London. He was offered the midnight-to-two shift, which developed into a program called The Perfumed Garden (named after an erotic book famous at the time). It was on "Big L" that he first adopted the name John Peel.

Related Topics:
1967 - Pirate radio - Wonderful Radio London - The Perfumed Garden

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At the time I was coming to the end of a fairly catastrophic marriage ... my wife was amazingly aggressive and she hit me a lot and so I was pleased to be on the ship for two weeks out of three. ... It wasn't until Brian Epstein phoned ... on having the foresight to put on this excellent programme late at night and ... thought 'we had better listen to this' ... they were all slightly horrified but it had gone too far for them to stop it ... There was a play list and commercials that had to be done ... but ... after midnight I virtually did away with them ... I didn't bother to do the news or the weather or anything. Just to do two hours of records and reading other people's poetry very badly.

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John Peel brought sixties culture to a generation of young Londoners through his Perfumed Garden on Wonderful Radio London, playing classic blues and folk music as he gently introduced groundbreaking music of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Captain Beefheart, esoteric performers like Ron Geesin and John Fahey, and broke new British bands like Family and Fairport Convention. His show influenced the rise of most subsequent styles of rock music.

Related Topics:
Sixties - Blues - Folk music - Tyrannosaurus Rex - Captain Beefheart - Ron Geesin - John Fahey - Family - Fairport Convention - Rock music

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Wonderful Radio London closed on August 14, 1967 at 3pm just before the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act became law at midnight. The new law made the offshore broadcasting illegal for British citizens serving as advertisers, suppliers, news-readers and DJs.

Related Topics:
August 14 - 1967 - Marine Broadcasting Offences Act

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