People sharing memories of John Peel….

…on a special 6 Music programme yesterday to celebrate what would have been the great man’s 75th birthday. Tributes were paid to Peel the broadcaster and Peel the human being but no mention of Peel the advertising voiceover. I worked with this incarnation in the 90s when his trustworthy tones were in great demand. And he was exactly as you’d hope – kind, offbeat and droll with a gift for a finely-turned phrase. Though I was surprised by how slick and professional he was. Thinking back, perhaps I shouldn’t have been. His, like Boris Johnson’s, was a shrewdly constructed persona, designed to maintain the brand of Peel. This doesn’t make him bad or cynical; just not as daft as he’d have you believe. With a few noble exceptions like this track, I was never a fan of the music he played. But I was a huge fan of the fact that he played it.