John Peel

I wanted to buy one of the Peel books but was put off the official one by reading that it was just put together by his wife and a ghost writer after he died. So took a chance on this one cos it was going cheap. Wow! What a refreshing read! Everything you could want to know but really well written - and totally objective! Best book I've read all year. Highly recommended.

A big fat disappointment (13/14 people found this helpful)

I was mortified by the loss of John Peel and bought this book hoping for more of an insight into the character of the man. What I found was a rushed work, padded out with the festive fifty lists. The text is in large, spaced out print like a kid who is trying to make his essay look like many days hard work instead of a rush job to hit a deadline. Given that in this case the deadline was dictated by someone's death, and the motivation a cash in this struck me as quite sick.
The content of the book does trace Peels life and career in some detail and is written in admiring tones, but there are few quotes from the man himself. A good biography is written by a close friend or at least someone who has access to the subjects thoughts and feelings but there is a sense of distance between Peel and Wall throughout, in fact he states they only me once whilst waiting for a lift.

I was incredibly disappointed with both the book and Mick Walls apparent lack of shame.

A rushed job (7/8 people found this helpful)

John Peel's death was announced on 26th October 2004, the funeral was on 12th November 2004, and this book was in the shops in time for early December, so I think it is fair to say that it was fairly rushed.

Of the 231 pages the last 40 are just filled with lists of all the 'Festive Fifty' charts from the Peel shows, and most of the 30 pages before that are quotes from various people wrapped up in a little commentary. Most of the quotes are ones that I, and most other people, had already read in newspapers, magazines and the BBC website. The other 160 pages do not go into much more depth, and nearly all the material seems to have been taken from previously published interviews.

To be fair to the author, the book is as good as it could be given the short time to write it. Obviously an autobiography is what most Peel fans would prefer, but a decent biography could be written if enough time was taken to seek out and interview family members, old schoolfriends, contacts from Peel's time in the US and lots of other people. The books failing is the absence of any real volume of original material.

This is not to say that the book is totally useless, but just that if you have read the large articles and obituaries in various newspapers and magazines during November and December 2004 there will not be much in this book which is unfamiliar. If you read this expecting a biography you will be hugely disappointed, but then the title of the book is "John Peel a tribute to the much-loved DJ and broadcaster": in fairness you cannot accuse the author of pretending to have written a biography and throughout the book there is the sense that he does want to pay tribute to the man. I would not for a moment doubt that Mick Wall does sincerely respect John Peel and hold him in affection, maybe thats because I can't imagine anyone remotely interested in serious music to think otherwise. So even if you consider the book to be a rip-off or cash-in it is not a cynical one.

While reading this book I did feel that the author did not say many things, but rather said one or two things and endlessly repeted them over and over. Those things were that Peel was a devoted family man, modest about fame, loved music and was greatly respected. On reflection I thought that maybe thats why so many of us liked him so much: because he just stuck to the one or two things he most enjoyed and was best at and did not dilute his appeal by branching out too much.

So, in conclusion, maybe this book is a fitting tribute in that it reminds us of John Peel's acheivements, and appears to be written with a genuine affection for the subject. Its just a shame that I had recently read most of it in the interviews and obituaries which were so thoroughly plundered for material.

Extended School Essay (1/2 people found this helpful)

This seems to be Mick Wall's homework exercise. With no direct access to the family this book seems to be nothing more than a collection of stuff that you could pick up off the internet. It seems like Mr Wall has been asked to fill the pages and he shamelessly quotes pages and pages of tributes just to fill space, his only qualification seems to be that he met John Peel a couple of times.
This is poor stuff and I hope he is shamed enough to pass on anything he makes from this book to a worthwhile charity.

Entertaining. (0/1 people found this helpful)

I read the whole book in a few hours. I found it entertaining and quite informative. It covers the whole of Peel's life. The author is a fan, and has done a good job of providing the facts without ever going into excessive detail.

My critism of the book lies is that it needs better structuring on the paragraph level. There were a number of times when I thought that some minor restructuring would have made it more logical. The author obviously watched the 60th birthday documentary since a fair bit of the content seems very similar to that. Well, not too bad considering it's the same subject I suppose.

Overall not a bad book. Would have benefited from a few days work with a more demanding editor.

Mick Wall

Reader Reviews:

Surprisingly Cool (1/2 people found this helpful)

A big fat disappointment (13/14 people found this helpful)

A rushed job (7/8 people found this helpful)

Extended School Essay (1/2 people found this helpful)

Entertaining. (0/1 people found this helpful)

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