Michael Heatley's under-researched biography....

[Tom Roche]

One more book review, this one from the Oxford student paper...

http://www.oxfordstudent.com/2005-02-03/ox2/2

tom r



Books

Chasing the ambulance

Michael Heatley's under-researched biography of the late John Peel represents sheer opportunism, writes Alexandra Bray

Only eighteen days after the greatest presenter in the history of radio was buried, Michael Heatley's biography had been written from scratch and published; tragically, it wasn't even the first. Perhaps this is cynical but the phrase 'heartless cash-in' seems to suggest itself. Nonetheless I tried to approach John Peel: A Life In Music with an open mind - only to have every fear realised. There's virtually nothing here that couldn't be found on the internet; in fact, given the patchy and repetitive style Heatley appears to favour, that's probably the way he and his researchers put this shoddy biography together.

Michael Heatley has made regular contributions to the Guinness Book of Hit Singles and edited the Virgin Encyclopedia of Rock. While his style is fine for that kind of basic factual writing, this travesty proves that he's no master of continuous prose.

Published by Orion, Heatley's biography contains plenty of filler - indeed, the 11 pages of tributes are actually quasi-highlights in comparison to the 28 subsequent pages listing the annual 'Festive 50' countdown. The biography also features much random and unnecessary information - for instance, Heatley feels the need to tell his reader that LSD stands for Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: all very interesting, but it doesn't really offer much of an insight into Peel's life; wouldn't an account of John's experiences with the drug have been more relevant? Perhaps, but that would require Heatley to have more of a connection to his subject than common roots in Merseyside.

It gets worse. Apparently LSD allows people - probably mainly youths - to take "trips" (I quote, unfortunately so does Heatley). Given that John Peel was always at the vanguard of pop-culture Heatley's nannying guide through such specious points is offensive both to any serious reader and to the great man's memory.

This said, there are still interesting stories nestled amongst the padding - for instance, the tale of a 24-year-old John ending up at the wrong end of an angry man's shotgun, having just been on the right end of said man's daughter (apparently she looked older than 13...). The book also contains a wealth of details relating to the Peel childhood, which will doubtless be of much interest to the thousands of people who felt a genuine personal connection with the man behind the grumpy-yet-reassuring voice, and will miss him for many years to come. Sadly, Heatley's handling of most of these details is cack-handed at best: yes, Peel's name was originally Ravenscroft; no, we don't need to be reminded on every other page.

Happily, John's own memoir (as completed by Sheila, his wife of 30 years) will be released later in the year, and promises to be a genuinely revealing book. Transworld, which has acquired the publishing rights to this autobiography, really summed up the feel of Heatley's effort in a recent press release: "Unlike [some] ambulance chasers ... we have some sense and decency." Brutal, yes; but the man was a broadcasting legend, and he deserves better than half-hearted, money-grabbing efforts cashing in on his name - either of them, for that matter.

If you were listening to Radio 1 in the days following Peel's death, you may remember Chris Moyles angrily telling a listener who complained at what he felt was an excessive tribute to "Go screw yourself; we feel like we've lost a member of the family." Many of Peel's long-time fans feel the same way, and this is not the way to keep them happy. This biography is lazy, slap-dash and, when you get down to it, just plain bad. Impatient Peel fans with no ability to perform web searches should go ahead and buy this; the rest of us would be well advised to wait until September, when the man who made himself an institution will get the tribute he deserves.