12 August 1985

[Colin]

Don't know if anyone in the group remembers this, but still....

Pete Drummond deputised for JP on Night Ride in late 1968 when Peel was unwell (possibly his jaundice episode). There was, as usual on NR, a guest poet - if I recall correctly, Patric Dickinson, but at any rate somebody a bit older and more "establishment" than the usual Liverpool/Newcastle/Edinburgh/London "underground" NR poets - and Pete had to interview him. The poet tried to explain references in his poems to classical music or ancient Greece; Pete sounded as if he was interviewing Lulu on Radio 1 Club and Dickinson became audibly annoyed. Peel might not have been on the same wavelength as this poet but he would have had enough politeness, curiosity and respect to maintain his end of the conversation. Pete Drummond sounded totally out of his depth.   

Maybe the tape of this encounter survives in the BBC archives, as an example of how not to do it...

c

--- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "billfromnorthwales" <billfromnorthwales@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks Darrg,
> 
> 
> Ah yes Pete Drummond is a duffer and all round embarrassment for sure.
> 
> Witness the real Smashy and Nicey with Drummond and Peel in 1967 HERE
> <http://www.peel.mooo.com/peelgroup/BillfromNorthWales/01%20John%20Peel/\
> 1967-10-01%20John%20Peel%20&%20Pete%20Drummond%20Top%20Gear%20BBC%20Radi\
> o%201.mp3>   and surely the most cringeworthy moment of the 20th Century
> when Drummond plays for time whilst introducing  Colosseum II In Concert
> HERE
> <http://www.peel.mooo.com/peelgroup/BillfromNorthWales/04%20In%20Concert\
> /1978-01-14%20BBC%20In%20Concert%20%28Colosseum%20II%29%20R.mp3>  when
> his jaw dropping buffoonery was, in Music Hall Chinese accent
> 
> "Confucius says rape is impossible, because woman with skirt up runs
> faster than man with trousers down".
> 
> Oooooooooooh criiiiiiinge.
> 
> Peel must have given them pretty short notice if they had to wheel Pete
> Drummond out.
> 
> 
> --- In peel@yahoogroups.com, Darren Giddings <darrg@> wrote:
> >
> > Here's another fragment - the first hour of a 1985 show which I think
> > currently only exists as an AM version and with the first couple of
> > minutes missing. This one is FM stereo and has the beginning of the
> > show intact:
> >
> > http://www.fileserve.com/file/8WHKZUk
> >
> > Normal Fileserve apologies are offered.
> >
> > The tape went a bit wobbly during the Cure track but I think I have
> > fixed it from there on in.
> >
> > Peel opens the show by apologising for missing the previous Wednesday
> > show on a "matter of principle" - I wonder what that was all about?
> > As he also says he is sorry to have missed Wednesday's Cure session,
> > I guess he is talking about the show which in the end was hosted by
> > Pete Drummond, to the bewilderment of listeners like me who were far
> > from prepared for Pete's 'Smashie & Nicey' delivery. Somewhere I have
> > a tape I made at the time of the Cure session tracks with Drummond's
> > "idiosyncratic" intros.
> >
> > Darrg
> >
>