Napster
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kent Shrimper - Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile OBE, KCSG
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Pubey - John Peel OBE
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Pubey - John Peel OBE
Has to be Sir Jimbo, though a tv documentary showed him in a different light to one on the TV, very strange obsession with his dead mum's bedroom.
If I am honest never was a fan of John Peel
SAVILLE CHARITY FACTS
Jimmy has carried out a considerable amount of charity work, including raising money for the Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he worked for many years as a volunteer porter.
For years, he was the honorary president of Phab and has helped raise over £40,000,000.
Savile has run over 212 marathons (many of them again for Phab, including their annual half marathon around Hyde Park).
I heard John Peel has said some unkind things about Essex.
Could anyone confirm?
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE (more commonly known as John Peel) was born on 30th August 1939 in Heswall on the Wirral. He tragically died when 65 due to a heart attack whilst working in Peru.
John Peel was more than just a Radio DJ, he was a national institution. The longest serving Radio 1 DJ, he exemplified everything that was right about modern music.
After completing his National Service, he moved to the USA in 1960, where he worked as a Beatles correstpondent for KLIF during the Beatlemania times. This is where he got his first radio job and fell in love with broadcasting.
When he returned to the UK in the swinging sixties he worked with the offshore pirate radio station Radio London. When it was shut down in 1967 he was one of the first DJs to move from offshore pirate radio to the new BBC Radio 1 pop music station.
At Radio 1 he brought eclectic and abstract music to the masses, without any hint of snobbery or elitism; he pioneered punk music and reggae, and championed folk, blues, classical and electronica music, often squeezing 10 different genres into an hour on air.
He is famous for his Peel Sessions, where bands were invited to record a set that he would play on air, and his warm and relaxed demeanour as he interviewed guests made him a personal friend of many singers and musician. His Sessions were often recorded in Maida Vale studios, but occasionally he invited bands around to his house “Peel Acres” to record and enjoy a glass of red wine.
However Peel was always uneasy with being referred to as a hero or a guru, as he was often likened to. He unified rival genres of music such as Rock and Mod, Punk and Psychedelica, but only because his love of all music was constant.
I began listening to Peel when about 10 or 11, I got my first Hi-Fi and used to listen to him with headphones under the covers when in bed. I began making tapes of his shows, recording my favourite songs and mashing them around with his quirky sayings and gentle humour. I found out recently that my uncle used to do exactly the same in the early 70s!
A tradition each Christmas was the Peel Festive Fifty where he counted down the best tracks voted for by the listeners.
Bands that credit Peel as a major boost to their careers?:
T-Rex, Led Zeppelin, Kevin Ayers, David Bowie, The Faces, Bolt Thrower, The Sex Pistols, The Slits, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Fairport Convention, Pink Floyd, The Clash, Napalm Death, Carcass, Extreme Noise Terror, The Undertones, Buzzcocks, Gary Numan, The Cure, Joy Division, The Comsat Angels, The Wedding Present, Six By Seven, Def Leppard, The Orb, Pulp, Ash, Orbital, The Smiths, The Bhundu Boys, Syd Barrett, FSK, Trumans Water, The Black Keys, The White Stripes The Bhundu Boys and PJ Harvey. (list – Wikipedia) In total Peel had 4000 sessions recorded by over 2000 artists.
Peel is also well know for his shows on the BBC World Service and Radio 4 (Home Truths), and appearances on BBC Television (notably Top of the Pops and the Glastonbury Festival coverage). He also set up Dandelion and Strange Fruit record labels, both releasing a number of albums as well as the recordings on Peel Sessions.
When Peel died he left behind his wife Sheila and four children.
Awards (thanks to wiki):
Peel was 11 times Melody Maker's DJ of the year, Sony Broadcaster of the Year in 1993, winner of the Godlike Genius Award from the NME in 1994, Sony Gold Award winner in 2002 and is a member of the Radio Academy Hall of Fame. At the NME awards in 2005 he was Hero of the Year and was posthumously given a special award for "Lifelong Service To Music". At the same event the "John Peel Award For Musical Innovation" was awarded to The Others.
He was awarded many honorary degrees including an MA from the University of East Anglia, doctorates (Anglia Polytechnic University and Sheffield Hallam University), various honorary degrees (University of Liverpool, Open University, University of Portsmouth, University of Bradford) and a fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University.
He was appointed an OBE in 1998, for his services to British music. In that year, he was also voted 47th in a Cosmopolitan readers' poll of the Top 50 Most Lovable Men in the World.
In 2002, the BBC conducted a vote to discover the 100 Greatest Britons of all time. Peel was voted 43rd.
So why is John Peel a British hero?
Well he encompassed everything that is great about Britian, he was funny, warm and welcoming. He was open-minded, not perfect, but always honest and selfless.
However ultimately, modern music just wouldn’t be the same without him, he gave plenty of great bands (as well as plenty of duff ones) opportunities that no one else would have. He was a lover of music, the arts, broadcasting, journalism and football. He is completely irreplaceable.