Reading

thumb|330x330px|John Peel reading the football results at the 1975 Reading Festival
The Reading Festival originates from the National Jazz Festival, which was conceived by Harold Pendleton (founder of the Marquee Club in London) and was first held at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1961. This festival, in turn, took inspiration from events held in America. Throughout its first decade the festival changed names and moved around sites several times, being held at Windsor Racecourse, Kempton Park and Plumpton, before reaching its permanent home at Reading in 1971.
The line-up settled into a pattern of progressive rock, blues and hard rock during the early and mid 1970s then became the first music festival to embrace punk rock and new wave in the late 1970s, when The Jam, Sham 69, The Stranglers and Penetration were among the headline acts. The festival attempted to provide both traditional rock acts and new punk and new wave bands in the late 1970s and early 1980s, occasionally leading to clashes between the two sets of fans, though the festival gradually became known for focusing on heavy metal and rock acts....(Read more at Wikipedia)
== Links to Peel ==
John Peel attended the predecessor of the Reading Festival, the Sunbury National Jazz and Blues Festival, at Kempton Park Racecourse, in 1968; he previews his appearance there on the Top Gear of 11 August 1968.
The Reading Festival was first held in June 1971. It is not known whether Peel attended, but the advertised line-up included many artists who were featured on Top Gear or Sounds Of The Seventies.
In 1979, Peel was apparently so appalled by The Scorpions set at that year's festival that it contributed to his decision to stop compering the event. 
== Radio ==
Main article: Reading: Radio.
== See Also ==
*Gigography
*Sonic Youth
*Gigography 1972 ‎ 
*Gigography 1973
*Gigography 1974
*Gigography 1975
*Gigography 1976
*Gigography 1977
*Gigography 1978
*Gigography 1979
*Gigography 1990 
*Gigography 1992 
*Gigography 1994 
*Disc & Music Echo: Peel Columns
*Sounds
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Official site
*Photos Of The Reading Festival In The 1970s (including Peel with Elton John)
*fatreg.com Reading festival timeline
*White Lemonade interview (early 1990s): including Peel's thoughts on the Reading festival
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