From stuart@... Sun Sep 2 19:30:19 2001 From: stuart@... (Stuart McHugh) Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 18:30:19 +0100 Subject: Culture? In-Reply-To: <999264867.313.1298.l10@yahoogroups.com> References: <999264867.313.1298.l10@yahoogroups.com> Message-ID: Did Peelie actually find the Culture session eventually? I heard the tail end of the show (having just been at a Ballboy gig) and he played a Culture track - not from the session. He also played part of session by A Sudden Sway (the one which was like a self-improvement plan for amoeba. Stuart "It's good - but it's getting better!" -- From gforsyth@... Sun Sep 2 20:06:38 2001 From: gforsyth@... (George Forsyth) Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 19:06:38 +0100 Subject: [peel] Culture? References: <999264867.313.1298.l10@yahoogroups.com> Message-ID: <001101c133da$034f4ba0$f746883e@oemcomputer> > Did Peelie actually find the Culture session eventually? Yes. George Forsyth From troche@... Tue Sep 4 01:18:56 2001 From: troche@... (Tom Roche) Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 19:18:56 -0400 Subject: I feel Voxish Message-ID: OK, some background. I first wrote Peel nearly 20 years ago from Florida to say thanks for the BBCWS show, not expecting a response. But he wrote back promptly, as he didn't get much mail at all re: the WS show other than of the "play more U2" sort. Then, in Atlanta, I kept writing, often sending regional US rock stuff and odd music articles, as I do to this day, at some expense. But I do so happily as I'm glad to join in the public service ethic Peel still clings to. I may be able to lay claim to being the show's first overseas internet listener, too. The Benz is gone, he drives a big silver Audi I think with a elaborate CD changer and a high-falootin track/control display. Sheila has a new PT cruiser, a spacious fun ride. The day I got there was the day he came home from Barcelona. He arrived from his 3 days in London with three huge Royal Mail sacks full of parcels of CD's and vinyl -- from the mightiest of labels down to the starving garage kids begging for a break, and everything in-between, sent to his BBC address. This was about 14 days' accumulation. Still more stuff comes in daily to his Stowmarket address, mostly Euro-vinyl it seems, from interesting labels he's entrusted his home address to. A dangling participle there, the first of many. So began the inside view of just what "the chaos of Peel acres" really means. One night John and Sheila had a dinner party they had to attend, thrown by the Dr who'd saved Sheila's life. So I volunteered to open and organizes all three 4ft tall sacks while they were out. It took me, (well me and Paul the Cowcube guy who'd stopped by to hand deliver my CD purchase) 5 hours straight to open it all - basically from the time J&S left to when they came back at midnight... when I was still at it. He branded me absolutely mad for my perseverance. Well takes a madman to know a madman, right? Someone had to do it. This task, plus the pricey Lightnin Hopkins 78s I'd brought, would serve as rent. There was new stuff from dozens of mystery bands, postmarked mostly from UK but also Spain, Germany, 10 different US states. Then historical stuff, old soul, jazz, Hawaiian, rockabilly, scads of reggae reissues. Then theres all these bands he played first and then moved on but they still send him product- stuff I saw as diverse as Ash, James, King Crimson reissues, Ramones & Smiths anthologies and on and on. Plus ragged non-label demo CD's... a few arrive each day, all year. Just processing all this input - irregardless of the audition process - how does he do it? John says that the big irony in his professional life is that if he were to give each item the proper attention and evaluation for his radio shows he would have no time to do the radio shows in the first place. So these incoming CD's, with press releases folded inside each, slowly make it from the kitchen table to his work area just off the kitchen. One turntable, one CD player, one TV usually on a sports event with the sound down, a nice view out to the garden, and CD's piled into dozens of 1,2 ,3, and 4 ft stacks. The room, maybe 8ft x 16ft, is lined with shelves packed with vinyl and books. (A stack of 8x10" sheets neatly piled over 20 inches tall sits on a lower shelf - the manually-typewritten single spaced run sheets of every show he's done in the past 10+ years or so. ) A center shelving unit full of more paperwork and albums serves as his desk, he works standing upŠ he lifts another single out of the sleeve, looks at each side, places it on the turntable, starts his wristwatch clock and stands there examining the sleeve as the record blares.... as he has methodically done ten thousand times. His audition process is surprisingly slow, as he doesn't hop around CD's and tracks; he listens most items all the way thru so as to log an accurate duration - the running times on the labels cant be trusted. Yet he has such a good knowledge of what the current most innovative labels are, and of course a keen instinct of an item's potential based on the cover art or song titles, that it seemed to me that more than 70% of what he elects to audition is worthy of airplay. So when he arrived Thursday evening (after two Radio 1 shows, and a day and a half in-studio working on interviews and voice overs for Home Truths) to begin what to you and me might be a restful weekend, all he saw was six hours of blank run sheets for the shows to air the following Tues-Wed-Thursday. Plus the German show. Plus the Radio Mafia show. Plus the BBCWS half hour, due at some undefined point. Plus another Radio Times column needed right away, said a message from the editor. He takes a blank sheet of lined paper and divides it into fourths. Each block will be a 30 minute segment. He starts wading through the piles of product. If the track is strong it makes the list. If it is, say, a techno thing he might put it in the 2nd or 3rd block depending on how much techno, or reggae, or white guitar stuff or whatever is already in that blockŠ so there is actually a structure to the randomness. If a CD happens to have one strong cut after another, he can block out new blank sheets for future shows and slug that stuff there, allowing him to make good on the occasional promise of "we'll hear more tomorrow" or whatever. He places a rectangular sticker on each auditioned CD or LP and rates each cut with one to 3 stars. Few items it seemed make it past one or two 3-star cuts, but the Half Man Half Biscuit EP arrived that day, all cuts got 3 stars and all cuts immediately were entered across the week's shows. One single from Germany he auditioned had this odd semi-ambient tape loop sound - you know, this current mini-trend where we have moved from intentionally muddying samples to looping samples intentionally off beat with pops and clicks added (I'm sure there is a NME-esque name for this genre by nowŠ one of the "problems" with Peel's shows is so much is so new the name for the trend hasn't been coined yet.) The single had birds chirping too, and it sounded just thoroughly great and one-of-a-kind to my Americanized ears. "I really like that, that's really unique" I said and he said yes, its good allright, but there is so so much of this sort of sound coming out right now. To me this was a good example of how just as we are all catching on to some new thing he is already nearly over it and itching for something else. So the auditions went onward, for practically every waking hour of the whole weekendŠ before breakfast at sunrise, late into the night, constant music coming from the room off the kitchen. Sometimes the midday nap happens on a chair in that room, 12-inchers piled on his sleeping lap. Its easy for some hotshot Americanski like me to observe all this and start to offer some dumb suggestions on how this might all be streamlinedŠ why not give up the manual typewriter and get a computer here and a keyboard there and move songs to harddrives bla blaŠ maybe sort your stuff this/that way, etc...but, no, his system works just fine... there's really a tortoise vs. the hare aspect to all thisŠ he does it all alone, his wayŠ and eventually, finally, in the end he has 6 hours of programming ready... All excellent stuff that's fresh yet timeless, all sequenced wisely and properly timed. (His show always ends only a few seconds either side of midnight and no more, had you noticed?) I'd always assumed these shows just rolled out before me for my enjoyment as if by effortless magic. Now I know better. By next Friday morning, 6 more hours of blank run sheets stare back at him.... Hope this was helpful. Sorry about any stream-of-consciousness typos.... tom r From patrick@... Wed Sep 5 00:35:02 2001 From: patrick@... (PATRICK FLEMING) Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 23:35:02 +0100 Subject: Tom Roche's visit to Peel acres Message-ID: <001f01c13591$f0b04b20$647087d9@pbncomputer> Felt compelled to say how much I enjoyed the short piece on how John puts together his programmes: a big thank you to TR for taking the time to tell us all about it. I'm quite sure that John would find this fannish behaviour quite amusing, but I think it serves as a timely reminder that this kind of dedication to the listener has a finite lifespan: when John eventually retires (hopefully not for years yet) who's going to filter out all the dross, and find all these remarkable nuggets from around the world? Not wishing to be too downbeat, in closing thanks again to TR and if anybody else has some interesting anecdotes then I for one would like to hear them. Bye for now Patrick From les_miller@... Fri Sep 7 10:39:23 2001 From: les_miller@... (Les Miller) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 09:39:23 +0100 Subject: Lianne Hall Message-ID: <80256AC0.002FCD19.00@...> For those of you that are fans of Lianne Hall and Pico there is a web site which has details of the album that Peel played a track from this week. http://www.bedsit.freeserve.co.uk/bbw/menu.htm From sete.colinas@... Mon Sep 10 00:01:36 2001 From: sete.colinas@... (Leo/Bianca) Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 23:01:36 +0100 Subject: [peel] I feel Voxish In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Tom from Atlanta, Many thanks for your fascinating, and engagingly written, piece about John's working life. The man really is a marvel. Long may he continue. Leo Gilbert > From: Tom Roche > Reply-To: peel@yahoogroups.com > Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 19:18:56 -0400 > To: peel@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [peel] I feel Voxish > > OK, some background. > > I first wrote Peel nearly 20 years ago from Florida to say thanks for the > BBCWS show, not expecting a response. But he wrote back promptly, as he didn't > get much mail at all re: the WS show other than of the "play more U2" sort. > Then, in Atlanta, I kept writing, often sending regional US rock stuff and odd > music articles, as I do to this day, at some expense. But I do so happily as > I'm glad to join in the public service ethic Peel still clings to. > > I may be able to lay claim to being the show's first overseas internet > listener, too. > > The Benz is gone, he drives a big silver Audi I think with a elaborate CD > changer and a high-falootin track/control display. Sheila has a new PT > cruiser, a spacious fun ride. The day I got there was the day he came home > from Barcelona. He arrived from his 3 days in London with three huge Royal > Mail sacks full of parcels of CD's and vinyl -- from the mightiest of labels > down to the starving garage kids begging for a break, and everything > in-between, sent to his BBC address. This was about 14 days' accumulation. > Still more stuff comes in daily to his Stowmarket address, mostly Euro-vinyl > it seems, from interesting labels he's entrusted his home address to. A > dangling participle there, the first of many. > > So began the inside view of just what "the chaos of Peel acres" really means. > > One night John and Sheila had a dinner party they had to attend, thrown by the > Dr who'd saved Sheila's life. So I volunteered to open and organizes all three > 4ft tall sacks while they were out. It took me, (well me and Paul the Cowcube > guy who'd stopped by to hand deliver my CD purchase) 5 hours straight to open > it all - basically from the time J&S left to when they came back at > midnight... when I was still at it. He branded me absolutely mad for my > perseverance. Well takes a madman to know a madman, right? Someone had to do > it. This task, plus the pricey Lightnin Hopkins 78s I'd brought, would serve > as rent. > > There was new stuff from dozens of mystery bands, postmarked mostly from UK > but also Spain, Germany, 10 different US states. Then historical stuff, old > soul, jazz, Hawaiian, rockabilly, scads of reggae reissues. Then theres all > these bands he played first and then moved on but they still send him product- > stuff I saw as diverse as Ash, James, King Crimson reissues, Ramones & Smiths > anthologies and on and on. Plus ragged non-label demo CD's... a few arrive > each day, all year. Just processing all this input - irregardless of the > audition process - how does he do it? > > John says that the big irony in his professional life is that if he were to > give each item the proper attention and evaluation for his radio shows he > would have no time to do the radio shows in the first place. > > So these incoming CD's, with press releases folded inside each, slowly make it > from the kitchen table to his work area just off the kitchen. One turntable, > one CD player, one TV usually on a sports event with the sound down, a nice > view out to the garden, and CD's piled into dozens of 1,2 ,3, and 4 ft stacks. > The room, maybe 8ft x 16ft, is lined with shelves packed with vinyl and books. > (A stack of 8x10" sheets neatly piled over 20 inches tall sits on a lower > shelf - the manually-typewritten single spaced run sheets of every show he's > done in the past 10+ years or so. ) > > A center shelving unit full of more paperwork and albums serves as his desk, > he works standing upŠ he lifts another single out of the sleeve, looks at each > side, places it on the turntable, starts his wristwatch clock and stands there > examining the sleeve as the record blares.... as he has methodically done ten > thousand times. His audition process is surprisingly slow, as he doesn't hop > around CD's and tracks; he listens most items all the way thru so as to log an > accurate duration - the running times on the labels cant be trusted. > > Yet he has such a good knowledge of what the current most innovative labels > are, and of course a keen instinct of an item's potential based on the cover > art or song titles, that it seemed to me that more than 70% of what he elects > to audition is worthy of airplay. > > So when he arrived Thursday evening (after two Radio 1 shows, and a day and a > half in-studio working on interviews and voice overs for Home Truths) to begin > what to you and me might be a restful weekend, all he saw was six hours of > blank run sheets for the shows to air the following Tues-Wed-Thursday. Plus > the German show. Plus the Radio Mafia show. Plus the BBCWS half hour, due at > some undefined point. Plus another Radio Times column needed right away, said > a message from the editor. > > He takes a blank sheet of lined paper and divides it into fourths. Each block > will be a 30 minute segment. He starts wading through the piles of product. If > the track is strong it makes the list. If it is, say, a techno thing he might > put it in the 2nd or 3rd block depending on how much techno, or reggae, or > white guitar stuff or whatever is already in that blockŠ so there is actually > a structure to the randomness. If a CD happens to have one strong cut after > another, he can block out new blank sheets for future shows and slug that > stuff there, allowing him to make good on the occasional promise of "we'll > hear more tomorrow" or whatever. He places a rectangular sticker on each > auditioned CD or LP and rates each cut with one to 3 stars. Few items it > seemed make it past one or two 3-star cuts, but the Half Man Half Biscuit EP > arrived that day, all cuts got 3 stars and all cuts immediately were entered > across the week's shows. > > One single from Germany he auditioned had this odd semi-ambient tape loop > sound - you know, this current mini-trend where we have moved from > intentionally muddying samples to looping samples intentionally off beat with > pops and clicks added (I'm sure there is a NME-esque name for this genre by > nowŠ one of the "problems" with Peel's shows is so much is so new the name for > the trend hasn't been coined yet.) The single had birds chirping too, and it > sounded just thoroughly great and one-of-a-kind to my Americanized ears. "I > really like that, that's really unique" I said and he said yes, its good > allright, but there is so so much of this sort of sound coming out right now. > > To me this was a good example of how just as we are all catching on to some > new thing he is already nearly over it and itching for something else. > > So the auditions went onward, for practically every waking hour of the whole > weekendŠ before breakfast at sunrise, late into the night, constant music > coming from the room off the kitchen. Sometimes the midday nap happens on a > chair in that room, 12-inchers piled on his sleeping lap. > > Its easy for some hotshot Americanski like me to observe all this and start to > offer some dumb suggestions on how this might all be streamlinedŠ why not give > up the manual typewriter and get a computer here and a keyboard there and > move songs to harddrives bla blaŠ maybe sort your stuff this/that way, > etc...but, no, his system works just fine... there's really a tortoise vs. > the hare aspect to all thisŠ he does it all alone, his wayŠ and eventually, > finally, in the end he has 6 hours of programming ready... All excellent stuff > that's fresh yet timeless, all sequenced wisely and properly timed. (His show > always ends only a few seconds either side of midnight and no more, had you > noticed?) > > I'd always assumed these shows just rolled out before me for my enjoyment as > if by effortless magic. Now I know better. > > By next Friday morning, 6 more hours of blank run sheets stare back at him.... > > Hope this was helpful. Sorry about any stream-of-consciousness typos.... > > > tom r > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > From rockerq@... Thu Sep 13 23:50:45 2001 From: rockerq@... (rockerq@...) Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 17:50:45 EDT Subject: no Peel Message-ID: <11f.4655cae.28d28435@...> Just turned on to hear Lamacq standing in for Peel. Missed whatever announcements were made. Does anyone know if the great man is OK? Rocker From janrobertson@... Fri Sep 14 00:29:21 2001 From: janrobertson@... (Jan Robertson) Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 23:29:21 +0100 Subject: ..peel.. Message-ID: <000501c13ca3$89f5aec0$3d15883e@ratsrobertson> Just a wee bit concerned about John, have sent on my get well wishes, but am looking for reassurance from those in the know..anyone?! Jan x -------------------------------------------------------- b e a r s u i t l o - f i a c t i o n : www.bearsuit.co.uk 'h e y c h a r l i e h e y c h u c k' [d e b u t 7" s i c k r o o m g r a m o p h o n i c c o l l e c t i v e sgc005] [ bearsuit - drinkink on blip-anomaly 7" ] [ order both from www.sickroomgc.co.uk ] i m p b a t e l e c t r o n i c a : www.impbat.com ---------------------------------------------------- jan@... janrobertson@... prq00jr@... From stuart@... Sun Sep 23 17:31:30 2001 From: stuart@... (Stuart McHugh) Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 16:31:30 +0100 Subject: the Peel cd backlog In-Reply-To: <1000452975.152.82803.l10@yahoogroups.com> References: <1000452975.152.82803.l10@yahoogroups.com> Message-ID: With Tom's detailed analysis of how records are chosen for airplay, and the general impression that he and everyone else will have got that it's a long process due to the sheer numbers of cd's that Jon has to wade through, I thought I'd tell you the short story of how one band from Edinburgh - Guernica, made it onto the airwaves. They recorded a demo at home one weekend - the 1st and 2nd of September. Got it onto computer and burned a cd and popped a few copies in the post on the Monday. (I got one on the Tuesday). On the Wednesday Peelie played it on the show! (www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alt/tracklistings/peel_050901.shtml) A mystery to me how it made it to the top of the pile, I can only assume that John had a listen to some of the stuff that arrived in the post on the Tuesday and was impresssed enough to get it into the next day's show. S -- From sete.colinas@... Fri Sep 28 20:26:29 2001 From: sete.colinas@... (Leo/Bianca) Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 19:26:29 +0100 Subject: John Peel online chat Message-ID: For anybody who's interested, here's the great man having a chat. http://www.bbc.co.uk/livechat/transcripts/johnpeelpage1.shtml Leo From stuff1424@... Sat Sep 29 15:25:06 2001 From: stuff1424@... (stuff1424@...) Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:25:06 EDT Subject: [peel] Kershaw Sessions Message-ID: Hi all, I was wondering if anyone on the list taped Wreckless Eric's radio 3 session for Andy Kershaw as well as the legendary Dick Dale repeat set from 1996 that was aired last week. If anyone can help me out in getting a copy of these recordings on tape I'd be ever so grateful. Please e-mail me off list if you can help- we can trade, or a 2:1 etc. thanks, Richard. From tomagotchi@... Sat Sep 29 17:45:12 2001 From: tomagotchi@... (t-o-m-a-g-o-t-c-h-i) Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 16:45:12 +0100 Subject: melt-banana Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20010929164442.0230b300@...> hey for those of you who love melt-banana, as far as i know.. here are the currently up-to-date tour dates for the UK: 01 oct: Brighton CONCORDE 02 oct: Nottingham SOCIAL CLUB 03 oct: London BBC/Peel Session (live) 04 oct: Leeds BASEMENT 05 oct: Glasgow 13th NOTE CLUB 07 oct: Manchester STAR & GARTER 08 oct: London GARAGE 09 oct: Bristol THEKLA check it! :) tom x -- well hello there mr young master robot.. hello miss bean From anewdrifter@... Sat Sep 29 18:50:06 2001 From: anewdrifter@... (anewdrifter@...) Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 12:50:06 EDT Subject: [peel] Kershaw Sessions Message-ID: <7a.1b7e2d6e.28e755be@...> Richard, I have the dick dale session if you still need it, it's not very long but I can bang it onto a tape if you like? Just give me your address and I'll sort it out. phil From troche@... Sun Sep 30 05:23:11 2001 From: troche@... (Tom Roche) Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 23:23:11 -0400 Subject: [peel] Digest Number 401 In-Reply-To: <1001759036.169.93673.l10@yahoogroups.com> References: <1001759036.169.93673.l10@yahoogroups.com> Message-ID: > >Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 19:26:29 +0100 > From: Leo/Bianca >Subject: John Peel online chat > >For anybody who's interested, here's the great man having a chat. > >http://www.bbc.co.uk/livechat/transcripts/johnpeelpage1.shtml > >Leo > here's the whole thang for those who didn't bother.... tom John Peel Live Chat Saturday 18th August 2001 > John Peel, of Radio 4's Home Truths, chatted about music, football, radio and family life. Here's the first question. Question from Dan Satterfield: How long have you been doing Home Truths and how did it start? John Peel: About three years now. It derived from a previous programme called Offspring which ran irregularly for two or three years. Question from Mal Demurr: Do you write your own Home Truths scripts, i.e. is all the humour your own, or do you get a little help? John Peel: Yes I do write them. Inevitably with anything, sometimes when you look at it later you think that was okay, or I wish I hadn't done that. After the programme there's a lot of soul-searching. Question from Angela Crook: Whose idea was Home Truths in the first place? John Peel: It came originally from Offspring. A couple of nice radio producers asked me to do a programme about children. I found myself talking to women novelists about the state of the novel in English. The pilot was sensibly rejected, then re-submitted and then accepted. Some shadowy person in some part of Broadcasting House to which I don't have access. Question from K B: John, do you think Radio 4 listeners have ever been put off by frequent references to your other (fabulous) radio shows? John Peel: Well, I always hoped there'd be some kind of cross-fertilisation. I'd like people who listen to Radio 4 to listen to Radio 1 and vice versa. I don't think many do to be honest. The thing is, the Radio 1 programmes apparently have the highest number of listeners under 16, which is a source of great pleasure to me. If they start listening to Radio 4, that's good for Radio 4. We've always been told the average Radio 4 listener is about the age of 80. Question from Bez Pitcher:My late mother's maiden name was Ravenscroft, she lived on Merseyside, her father was in the aiforce, World War II, any connection? John Peel:Very likely, I'd have thought. In that, for about a thousand years there have been Ravenscrofts in Cheshire, living lives of unparalleled dullness, being mainly involved in farming. I know this from a book called The Book of the Ravenscrofts.... I was convinced of the authenticity of this book by the fact that at no stage are the Ravenscrofts related in any way to the kings of England! Question from Dominic Smith: How many records do you have in your collection? John Peel: I know exactly how many vinyl LPs I've got because I file them in a numerical system. And I've just passed 26,000. People do criticise you for that, but you have to have some kind of system. You can't keep looking through 26,000 records, saying "It's in here somewhere!" As for CDs, 12 inch singles and 7 inch singles, I have no idea. Too many. Question from Rachel Irvine: Hi John, do you really keep your toenail clippings? Why? Do you keep them all or just a sample? What do you keep them in - how many have you got? For example enough to fill a film case, or a bucket? John Peel: (John laughs...) I got very bad sunburn in Yugoslavia a few years ago, and I was able to pull off great strips of skin. And because I found them quite interesting, I've kept them. Over the years I've added toenails and some verrucas as well. But I recently threw them away, to general family rejoicing. They were all frightened I was going to leave them to them in my will. Question from Lucy Sweetman: If you were a fish, what kind of fish would you be? John Peel: Something that lurked on the bottom and anticipated an early death, I think. I always like to blend with my natural surroundings. Continued... Live Chat with John Peel continued... Question from Jon Savage: Parochial question. Why Stowmarket? John Peel: I think if you're in London, you're always worrying that you're missing that all-important festival of Polish film at the National Film Theatre. In Stowmarket this isn't a problem... Question from Eddie Allan: Why is your wife, Sheila, known as the Pig? John Peel: Because she snorts when she laughs. (John shouts "Pig" to wife!) Question from Roger Shaw: Is it weird to get in the office and find that Radio 4 listeners want to do farmyard impressions on air? John Peel:Extraordinary. On the other hand, we depend on their willingness to do this sort of thing. My own fox impression takes some beating. It's actually rather painful, and involves a sharp intake of breath with your mouth open. Question from Michael Snodgrass: What would be a good openig line for someone to use to get you in to a conversation if they just bumped into you? John Peel: "Wasn't Robbie good on Saturday?" would be a good start, I think. Question from Nicky Clark: I`ve been away and was shocked to read via your Radio Times column that John Walters has died. When and how? Any plans for tributes ? He was a brilliant broadcaster. John Peel: I'm sure there must be plans somewhere, I hope there are plans. I wouldn't know where to begin. At least 25 years of my life were taken up with Walters. As anyone who knew him would confirm, he really was larger than life. I wouldn't know where to begin with a tribute. I always have at the back of my mind when doing Home Truths, his criticism of the programme to the effect that it was about people who had fridges called Renfrewshire. Question from Chris Pearce: What format do you want your funeral to take? John Peel: Rather gothic actually. (laughs). A lot of stuff designed to make people weep copiously. I want people to feel guilty they weren't nicer to me while I was alive. Question from David Smallridge: We are great fans but we have never been able to decipher what is shouted at the start of the programme. John Peel: It's "Let's go trippin'" This is not an invitation to drug abuse, it's some kind of surfing term. I don't really know what it means! One of the things I do worry about with the programme, is that it does get too much to do with people who call their fridges Renfrewshire. I think Walters' criticism was rather apt. Our fridge is called Steve. But I just made that up. My imagination pulses day and night. Question from Rich Thompson: Has your Brummie accent been a hinderance or a help in your career? John Peel: Well, I'm always rather offended when people say it's a Brummie accent! What it is is adjusted middle-class Cheshire. My original accent was an an embarrassment when I was in the army. Potentially hazardous, really. Continued... Question from Nina: How many BBC staff are involved in producing Home Truths? John Peel: Well, there are three producers, one researcher and a broadcast assistant. So five is the answer. Not enough if you're doing a programme, too many if you're buying a round of drinks! Question from Chris Handy: What has been your favorite item from any show? John Peel: I always like things to do with Haile Selassie. I'm not sure why...... I suppose partly because he's venerated by reggae musicians, and as I like reggae, there's a barely discernible link there. Question from Tricia Twelvetree: Did you ever envisage that Home Truths would touch such a core of UK family life. You broadcast many items to which I think "My God I thought that only happened to me!! John Peel: That's exactly the feeling I have too, I'm amazed that so many people have had experiences I thought were unique to our family. I just like the fact that almost everybody you speak to, has some feature in their lives that they regard as absolutely normal. Which would have any other person whistling in astonishment. Question from Alexis Walker: Would you have been so successful without the support of your wife Sheila? John Peel: Certainly not. Depending on how you define success, of course. I was looking in The Guardian yesterday at the list of 100 wealthiest media people. Noel Edmonds was at number 8. In those terms, I've not been successful, but in terms of having a nice life, I have been successful. Most of the people I'd never heard of. Question from Bobcatz1: Why do you always play records at the wrong speed? John Peel:Well, the thing is most DJs play the music from mini-discs, and there is no possibility of playing those at the wrong speed. Whereas I play at least half of the music from vinyl. And you get LPs that play at 45 and singles that play at 33 and a third. I think I do quite well, really, under the circumstances. I don't think anybody's life is ruined by hearing the intro of a record played at the wrong speed. Question from Bill Clark: How long do you listen to records every day? John Peel: Well, it's almost constant. As soon as I've finished with this and had a pee, I shall be listening until the football scores start coming through on Sky TV at 3.00. BBC Host: That is all we have time for. Here is John Peel with a final word... John Peel: I can't think of anything I want to say.... I always like any contact with the people who are at the receiving end of what we do. I'm always embarrassed by people who treat me as a mini-celeb, but I like talking about what I do. There's always conflict between those two things. Right. I'm going for a pee now