not dead, am doing a book

[dunelm61]

Hello again, Ken.

Point taken about the 29/08/07 show. I realise you don't have the 
luxury of being able to devote much space to any one show.

As regards the 1977 Festive Fifty, I may be able to point you in the 
right direction. First of all, there definitely was a Festive Fifty 
broadcast that year. Stories that Peel was overburdened with work so 
didn't broadcast one, or that he only broadcast a top 13, are myths. 
The only oddity was that Peel chose the records himself – there was 
no listeners' vote. This is hardly surprising. He had spent most of 
1977 alienating his old audience, but hadn't got rid of them 
completely. He probably feared that a listeners' chart would be full 
of the type of music he no longer played (I won't bother to name 
names!), so he put together a chart based on his own favourite 
records for the year. But he did definitely refer to it as the 
Festive Fifty.

It's nearly thirty years ago, so my recollection of the chart is a 
little unsure. There were one or two surprises in there, eg Dave 
Edmunds' I Knew The Bride. Bowie's Heroes was almost certainly in 
there, plus maybe tracks from Pink Floyd (Animals) and Be-Bop Deluxe 
(Live In The Air Age). Otherwise the chart would have read like a 
selection of the best of early punk.

My guess is that if you find a few shows broadcast towards the end of 
December 1977, the first part of each show comprising repeated 
sessions and the second part of each show comprising what is 
evidently a best of the records of the year, then you can have a fair 
stab at reconstructing the chart.

Best of luck!