John Peel is a popular DJ, radio host and music critic who, in the late 90s, opened to the world previously unknown underground bands in England. He popularized the underground style, promoted novice musicians and poets, thereby making a real revolution in the field of radio. From childhood, John dreamed of becoming an employee of the radio station, and subsequently he not only achieved his goal, but also became a cult figure of his time.
Biography
John was born in the small town of Heswall on the Virral Peninsula, which is located near Liverpool. He spent his childhood in the neighboring village of Burton, where he often played soccer and volleyball with other kids. As an adult, the boy went to study at a local school. In his free time, he liked to listen to the radio and collect old records. John dreamed that in the future he would be able to organize his own radio program, where the most popular music from around the world would play around the clock.
After leaving school, the young man began his service in the Royal Artillery as a radar operator. On weekends, he often drove home to Heswall on his scooter to visit his family. After completing his studies, John decided to go to America. He hoped to find himself a well-paid job. At first, the young man worked in a cotton workshop, then he became an insurance agent. He once even managed to talk with John Kennedy, who traveled to Texas during his election campaign. Peel was his ardent admirer. And when Kennedy was killed in 1963, the young man posed as a Liverpool Echo reporter to attend the indictment of Lee Harvey Oswald. Later, John did pass on the information to the Liverpool newspaper.
Career
While working at an insurance company, John repeatedly wrote computer programs that allowed recording commercials. A little later, he was noticed by employees of a radio station in Dallas and offered to work as a programmer in their office. Peel, of course, agreed, because from childhood he wanted to connect his life with the radio. However, he was practically not paid money for projects, so he was forced to resign.
In 1967, John returned to his native England, where he began to collaborate with the pirate radio station Radio London. There he was offered to conduct his own program called "Perfumed Garden". It was this program that allowed Peel to establish himself on the radio. Critics, radio listeners, and local journalists began talking about him.
In his show, Peel promoted British underground music, which no one had dared to play in radio programs before. He often included classical blues, folk tracks and psychedelic rock, always mentioning the names of the performers. All this differed from the official course of the radio, but, nevertheless, the direction chosen by John was very successful. Soon after the start of the show, his many fans began to send their own retro collections and unusual musical recordings to the radio station. Therefore, the Saw site has become a kind of means of two-way communication with the audience.
In 1967, John left the radio and began working with the underground newspaper The International Times, where he led his own column, in which he showed himself as a devoted fan of the underground scene. He opened new groups for readers, wrote about young musicians and poets.
A little later, Peel joined the new music radio station BBC Radio. He began to lead his program, in the framework of which he shared with the audience eclectic music, new facts from the lives of artists and unique finds of English folklore. Soon he was instructed to conduct another program - "Night Trip". John’s main duty was to meet with young poets and learn about their success stories. This program captured most of the creative underground scene and caused great excitement among underground lovers. All this led to the fact that soon the talented performers began to send John a huge amount of their own records, CDs and tapes for further cooperation.
Creation
In addition to working on the radio, John also played a movie several times. He repeatedly appeared in the old Harry Anfield films, and in 1999 he starred as a grumpy old man in the film "Five Seconds to the Spare." In addition, Peel took part in the filming of television shows from time to time, such as “This is your life”, “Traveling with my camera” and “Homecoming”, and also voiced documentaries.
In April 2003, John began to get involved in writing. He created his own autobiography, as well as a number of different essays, which were subsequently published in the general collections of the Chronicles of Olivetti.
