John Peel

**John Peel** (b. John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, 30 August 1939) was a British radio presenter, DJ and music journalist famous for his long-running show on BBC Radio One. He is particularly noted for his switch from more traditional rock to punk and post-punk music after 1977 and in particular for championing post-punk and new wave bands such as Joy Division, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Undertones, New Order and countless more. Prior to that he had also been an early supporter of major artists such as David Bowie, Queen, Mike Oldfield and Marc Bolan.

Ever the anti-conformist, he became one of the most senior and respected DJs on radio. His shows were noted for the eclectic mix of styles and also for the regular 'sessions' in which bands and artists were invited to BBC studios to showcase their material with 'live in the studio' recordings of usually three to four tracks.

He also became a regular presenter of *Top of the Pops* between 1982 and 1986.

Peel continued to broadcast up until his death. He died from heart failure whilst on a working holiday in Peru on 25 October 2004.

## Links to Janice

It's unknown whether Peel had come across Janice in her early Radio Merseyside days (Paul Gambaccini has taken most of the credit for 'discovering' her in Liverpool), although both musical tastes and Merseyside backgrounds would have given the pair immediate common ground, as demonstrated later when Janice's weekday evening show would precede Peel's, and successively when they presented *Top of the Pops* together. After David Jensen's departure from the BBC, Peel said he would only continue to present the weekly pop show if he could do it with Janice. The two were also paired together for occasional special Radio 1 shows (see list below).

### Co-hosted shows

* Radiothon 85
* Janice and John's New Year's Eve Party (1985)
* Janice and John in Japan (1986)

### Top of the Pops

* 06 September 1984 (TOTP)
* 07 March 1985 (TOTP)
* 11 April 1985 (TOTP)
* 09 May 1985 (TOTP)
* 11 July 1985 (TOTP)
* 29 August 1985 (TOTP)
* 02 January 1986 (TOTP)
* 03 April 1986 (TOTP)
* 08 May 1986 (TOTP)
* 29 May 1986 (TOTP)
* 28 August 1986 (TOTP)
* 20 November 1986 (TOTP)
* 05 February 1987 (TOTP)

see also: *Top of the Pops - The Story of 1986*

### Janice mentioned by Peel

* 28 May 1984 - announces sessions for his programme on later

### Janice mentioned by Peel

*with thanks to John Peel Wiki*

* 22 January 1985 - " *'For those of you who were listening to Janice on medium wave, isn't she terrific? I love the way she always leaves just a couple of seconds of dead air before the pips start."[1]*
* 01 April 1985 \*[2]
* 23 July 1985 - JP mentions he is awaiting a postcard from Janice currently away on the Radio 1 Roadshow [3]
* 12 August 1985 - *""Well, as medium wave listeners will know, it sounds as though our Janice is having a fine time there in Edinburgh. I'm sorry our paths didn't cross last Wednesday.."*[4]
* 28 August 1985 - on Then Jerico, *"I accept our Janice will be playing that quite a lot.."; " 'Top Of The Pops with Janice tomorrow and I'm off home to celebrate my birthday, the villagers are roasting some lentils."*
* 19 May 1986 - *"Nearly a second of dead air there, you know, at the end of Janice's programme on medium wave. I don't know. perhaps she's losing her touch, who can say..."*
* 16 June 1986 - "*now here's a friendly voice*", plays trailer for Janice's Rod Stewart special show "*on Wednesday*".
* 09 July 1986 - JP plays trailer for *The Best of Rod*
* 09 September 1986 - *""How very unusual to hear Janice play Pretty In Pink for a change..."*
* 12 November 1986 - *"And here's one for Janice if she's still listening in the other studio. From DST, this is Rock The House In Japan"*
* 23 December 1986 - *"'Tonight, I managed to listen to most of Janice's programme, which obviously, because I'm working myself, I don't always get the chance to do, and I was most pleased to hear that I'd placed second in the Record Mirror Poll, I hadn't noticed this, in the 'Least Objectionable DJ' category: Janice came top of that."*
* 26 January 1987 - *"'Top quality pop here from the John Peel wingding. Those are The Christians and that's a big favourite of course with our Janice as well and that's called Forgotten Town"*
* 12 May 1987 - *"We start though with Age Of Chance, a record which Janice has played dozens of times"* (Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Noise?)
* 27 May 1987 - *""Extraordinary scenes. There's our Janice talking to the Beastie Boys, nothing destroyed, no-one terrorised, none of THOSE words. What can it all mean?"*
* re: Terence Trent D'Arby, Aug. 1987: *"he did a session for Janice recently – scooped us again, we get used to that, “second nature to us now, like breathing out and breathing in” – but we decided to ask him if he’d do a session for us, and he has done.."*[5]

### Tribute

After his death in 2004, Janice said for The Guardian:

> "When I was in Liverpool in the early 1980s, there were so many bands around and their goal was to get that John Peel session. Everybody wanted to be on his show. That was the big, big thing. He did not kowtow to any trend or format, not going to be tied by the playlist. John Peel was his own judge; there were no other influences."[6]
>
>

## Janice Long sessions played by Peel

*list taken from John Peel Wiki, with thanks*

* The Mighty Lemon Drops - When I Dream / Waiting For The Rain / The Other Side Of You
* Close Lobsters - Nothing Really Matters
* Flatmates - Every Day
* The Mission - Wasteland
* Primal Scream - Velocity Girl
* The Associates - Heart Of Glass

## External links

* John Peel Wiki

* Radio 1 John Peel site