John Peel

I've just read on the BBC News site that John Peel has died of a heart attack whilst on holiday in Peru. This news has really knocked me sideways, and I can't quite believe that I won't hear his voice on Saturday mornings any more, or even rhapsodising over some new record that has caught his imagination on one of his Radio One shows. Radio is the most intimate medium by far. I usually listen when I am alone in the car, or perhaps when I'm in the bathroom or doing the washing up in the kitchen. There is not the same artifice as with the television - legend has it that BBC news readers used to put on formal dress suits for reading the news, but with John Peel you always had the feeling that he was presenting the show in a comfy jumper and an old pair of jeans.

He will be missed.