East Anglian Daily Times Sept 27 First grandson for veteran DJ

[Tom Roche]

First grandson for veteran DJ



September 27, 2003 06:26

By Rebecca Sheppard
VETERAN DJ John Peel is celebrating after becoming a grandfather - 
and has been searching through his extensive record collection to 
find a suitable track for his first grandson.

Archie was born at Ipswich Hospital at 8.21am on Wednesday to proud 
parents Alexandra, Mr Peel's 25-year-old daughter, and Ashley, 29.

Mr Peel, who has a three-nights-a-week show on Radio 1 and also 
presents Home Truths on Radio 4, said the programmes he had 
broadcasted from his home in Great Finborough, near Stowmarket, this 
week had been "very strange".
He added: "Tuesday night I was slightly hysterical as Alexandra had 
been in labour for about 24 hours by the time that I started the 
programme. I was getting more and more anxious and fraught.

"On Wednesday night when I tried to announce Archie's birth,I started 
to cry. I've got a recording somewhere of doing exactly the same 
thing when my son William was born and I had to put a record on 
quickly. At least there is consistency."

Mr Peel said Thursday night's programme had been devoted to finding 
tracks with Archie in the title.
"We had lots of e-mails saying congratulations to Alexandra and 
Ashley from all over the world with suggestions of tracks we could 
play," he added.
"In between playing records I was rushing around the house to find 
them. The only one I could find was Archie the Red Nose Reindeer, 
which is a reggae record and not entirely appropriate."
Looking at his grandson yesterday, who weighed 7lb 7oz when he was 
born on the same ward as his mum, aunt and two uncles, Mr Peel said: 
"He doesn't look like a baby, he hasn't got a fleshy face as babies 
have.
"You can see he's got a little personality. He looks like a person, 
not a jelly baby."

Although Mr Peel, 64, said it felt "pretty good" to be a grandfather, 
he conceded: "It won't make me feel and younger and I don't think it 
will make my knees feel any better."
The long-serving DJ - who has introduced generations of radio 
listeners to hip hop, reggae and punk - said he would probably not 
try to encourage Archie into the music industry on the basis he had 
done "poorly" with his own children.
The family will also be waiting on tenterhooks to see which football 
team Archie supports.

It is already divided as Mr Peel supports his home team Liverpool, 
his wife Sheila has allegiances to Ipswich Town Football Club, while 
Ashley, Archie's dad, is a Queens Park Rangers fan.

But as Archie was wearing a blue-and-red striped romper suit 
yesterday, his grandfather voiced suspicions he will be a Crystal 
Palace supporter.






	 










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