Nicey & Nicey

[Tom Roche]

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,6121,1371738,00.html?gusrc=rss

Biography
Is there anything more to say?

Michael Heatley and Mick Wall conjure up a national treasure in their 
biographies of John Peel

Anna Lynskey
Sunday December 12, 2004
The Observer

John Peel: A Life in Music by Michael Heatley (Michael O'Mara £14.99, pp240)
John Peel by Mick Wall (Orion £14.99, pp240)

In the hours following the death of John Peel, Radio 1 stopped all 
the playlists and devoted the airwaves to remembering its founding 
father. Chris Moyles's response to any listeners who considered this 
a waste of time was terse: 'Go screw yourself. We feel like we've 
lost a member of our family.'

At first glance such a retort seems melodramatic. Yet Moyles spoke 
for a country that, by and large, found itself in mourning. This 
wasn't just a symbolic outpouring of grief for a public figure: 
people really did feel that they knew Peel. His voice was a regular 
presence in bedrooms and cars across the country, at once challenging 
and reassuring. We will have another chance to experience his gently 
sardonic observations on life and music in his unfinished memoir, due 
to be completed by his wife, and published next year.

Meanwhile, fans could do worse than turning to two just-published 
books which pay homage to the man Andy Kershaw called 'the most 
important figure in British music since the birth of rock'n'roll'.

Michael Heatley's John Peel: A Life in Music is the more meticulously 
factual of the two. He tells us Peel was born two days before the 
national evacuation began in 1939; that he first played 'Anarchy in 
the UK' on 19 November 1976. By contrast, Mick Wall's homage presents 
us with a leisurely stroll through the life of an 'irreplacable man'.


Although they have been rushed through somewhat - Heatley opens by 
confessing that his was largely a team effort - these books are more 
than the cynical stocking fillers that might be expected, providing 
thoughtful, well-paced portraits of the national treasure du jour. 
Both pad out their slightly spare narratives with some of the media 
eulogies that greeted Peel's death, helping to streamline the welter 
of information with which we have been bombarded over past weeks. 
Given that in the week following Peel's death, the national press 
alone dedicated more than 33,000 words to him, this is no mean feat.

Each author makes the obligatory attempt to link himself to Peel. 
Heatley was, apparently, born on Merseyside, while Hall was once 
shown how to use a BBC coffee machine by his hero. Such clutching at 
credibility is unnecessary, as they are both experienced music 
pundits. People will buy these books to remember fondly what they 
already know; that Peel's favourite song was 'Teenage Kicks', or that 
he foresaw his own death on his 60th birthday.

This is hardly the time for exposés. Heatley and Wall recreate the 
sense of personality that Peel always conveyed, whether introducing 
16-year-olds to Nirvana or making a cameo appearance on The Archers. 
In this way they manage to distract from the sometimes bland and 
undemanding content of their books to create two warm tributes to a 
much-missed DJ.