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John Peel BBC radio DJ wore a Speedmaster
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TimeODanaos
·Slow news day, stumbled upon this image - thought UK members may be interested.
Rock on JP. 😎
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Revo
·That's really interesting. I've seen photos of him (from the 1970s?) wearing a white faced chronograph and often wondered what it was. By the '80s he had a LCD digital thing. The stopwatch feature would have used to time records so he could put his show together.
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jaguar11
·John Peel and Speedy. What a cool combination!!!
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Revo
·
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Revo
·Aaaand another. I loved JP. I cried the day he died. My elderly father-in-law was staying with us at the time and he thought I was mad, weeping over the death of a radio presenter.
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size11s
·Nice to see the great man again. He is mentioned less and less as time passes I noticed, but hopefully his enormous contribution to music will not be forgotten. I can even forgive him Teenage Kicks....😝
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Revo
·Gone down a rabbit hole.
Speedy until maybe the early '80s, then a variety of horrid digital jobbies.
I wonder if the Omega is in a drawer somewhere, needing a service?
Speedy until maybe the early '80s, then a variety of horrid digital jobbies.
I wonder if the Omega is in a drawer somewhere, needing a service?
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mydeafcat
·A nice surprise thread for a Sunday.
In case anyone is curious, JP’s favourite song was ‘Teenage Kicks’, off The Undertones’ eponymous debut LP. (In my view, Ireland’s greatest pop band by far).
In case anyone is curious, JP’s favourite song was ‘Teenage Kicks’, off The Undertones’ eponymous debut LP. (In my view, Ireland’s greatest pop band by far).
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Omegafanman
·I saw this story on the BBC today....... makes me wonder if he was timing 3 minute burns.......
For broadcast purposes, the DJ didn't trust the timings offered on the sleeve by the record company. Almost unbelievably, he stood with a stopwatch personally timing each track of the albums and typing up the result on to the filing card. This is a level of dedication Tom refers to as "basically a form of madness".
.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59927977
.
For broadcast purposes, the DJ didn't trust the timings offered on the sleeve by the record company. Almost unbelievably, he stood with a stopwatch personally timing each track of the albums and typing up the result on to the filing card. This is a level of dedication Tom refers to as "basically a form of madness".
.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59927977
.
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sleepyastronaut
·Slow news day, stumbled upon this image - thought UK members may be interested.
In the USA, Peel is known for engineering many of the best 'live' recordings.
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Revo
·
he wasn’t actually the engineer though - or even in the studio
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MRC
·Speedy until maybe the early '80s, then a variety of horrid digital jobbies.
Well, he used the Speedy as a tool for his work. By the 1980s a digital quartz chrono was a better tool for the job. I have no problem with that.
Darn, now I've got to see if U-bend has any Ivor Cutler recordings....
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MRC
·I saw this story on the BBC today....... makes me wonder if he was timing 3 minute burns.......
For broadcast purposes, the DJ didn't trust the timings offered on the sleeve by the record company. Almost unbelievably, he stood with a stopwatch personally timing each track of the albums and typing up the result on to the filing card. This is a level of dedication Tom refers to as "basically a form of madness".
.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59927977
.
120,000 records in that collection. I'll be tuning in.
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collector1946
·In 1960, John Peel went to the United States to work for a cotton producer who had business dealings with his father, and stayed till 1967. While in Dallas he spoke to John F. Kennedy as the Presidential candidate and Lyndon B. Johnson toured the city during the 1960 election campaign.
Peel's own photograph of Kennedy
Another photo by Peel of Kennedy
Following Kennedy's assassination he passed himself off as a reporter for the Liverpool Echo in order to attend the arraignment of Lee Harvey Oswald and he and a friend can be seen in the footage of the press conference shortly before Oswald's assassination. He later phoned in the story to the Liverpool Echo.
"I was at work at the Republic Life National Insurance company in North Central Expressway, Dallas, when it was announced over the PA that The President had been shot, and the initial response of my co-workers was one of some jubilation. There clapping to be heard and people shouting, cause he was not a popular man of course in Texas, cause he threatened the oil revenues on which the state appeared to float. And I know the reaction in my high school in which my girlfriend was in theory studying at the time was very similar. It was announced their by the headmaster or whatever they called them and cheering broke out fairly generally.
So I ran out into the car park and ran into my car and drove into downtown Dallas. I parked up somewhere and approached the Police cordon and I told them I was from The Liverpool Echo. Which obviously I wasn't and didn't have any kind of press pass or anything at all. But just cause I had an English accent, they assumed I must be telling the truth, rather touchingly. And so I went through the cordon and went in and had a look, see what was going on down by the famous grassy knoll etc."
When Lee Harvey Oswald was introduced to the press, pretend Liverpool Echo reporter, John Peel, was there.
John Peel attending the press conference in which Lee Harvey Oswald was first displayed by Police in Dallas, Texas. November 1963
"They brought Lee Harvey Oswald in, and I suppose he was five/six feet away from me, and either he didn't know what was going on or he was a very good actor. I mean he just looked like "come on guys, this has gone too far you know. Is this a joke or what?". And he had a big bruise on his cheek I remember. And I was standing over there watching him, and Henry Wade said something like "this is the man that's been charged with the assassination of President Kennedy", and general excitement and then he was lead away again. And, as I say, I've told this story so many times that I didn't really believe it myself. But then I was around at Andy Kershaw's a couple of years ago, and he'd got one of these TV documentaries about it, and they were showing this film of the whole proceedings. I mean they'd put the film on to demonstrate the fact that Jack Ruby was in the room as well , which I hadn't known till I'd seen this film. But in the last few frames there's me and my mate Bob standing there just watching. So it was true, and I was rather startled to be honest to see the truth of it demonstrated."
"In 1960, when I first arrived in Dallas, well I hadn't been there very long and there was the election. And they had the parades on consecutive days and their car came to a complete standstill. So I ran out and shook hands with him and said something like "good luck Mr Kennedy" and he said, and it does sound so implausible, I'm almost embarrassed to tell you, cause people think "oh, come on!" But he said something like "you're from England aren't you?" And I said "yes", and he said "what are you doing here?" So I said "well I just came over for a few months to learn about the cotton industry". So we had a bit of a chat, and, you know, I didn't know whether it was a couple of minutes or a thirty seconds or whatever". For a politician I'd have thought this is probably unique. I mean he talked about me, rather than himself. Cause he seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing for a short period of time. So obviously after that I wanted him to win the election so I could say "well there's my mate John, he's The President of The United States now."
Peel's own photograph of Kennedy
Another photo by Peel of Kennedy
Following Kennedy's assassination he passed himself off as a reporter for the Liverpool Echo in order to attend the arraignment of Lee Harvey Oswald and he and a friend can be seen in the footage of the press conference shortly before Oswald's assassination. He later phoned in the story to the Liverpool Echo.
"I was at work at the Republic Life National Insurance company in North Central Expressway, Dallas, when it was announced over the PA that The President had been shot, and the initial response of my co-workers was one of some jubilation. There clapping to be heard and people shouting, cause he was not a popular man of course in Texas, cause he threatened the oil revenues on which the state appeared to float. And I know the reaction in my high school in which my girlfriend was in theory studying at the time was very similar. It was announced their by the headmaster or whatever they called them and cheering broke out fairly generally.
So I ran out into the car park and ran into my car and drove into downtown Dallas. I parked up somewhere and approached the Police cordon and I told them I was from The Liverpool Echo. Which obviously I wasn't and didn't have any kind of press pass or anything at all. But just cause I had an English accent, they assumed I must be telling the truth, rather touchingly. And so I went through the cordon and went in and had a look, see what was going on down by the famous grassy knoll etc."
When Lee Harvey Oswald was introduced to the press, pretend Liverpool Echo reporter, John Peel, was there.
John Peel attending the press conference in which Lee Harvey Oswald was first displayed by Police in Dallas, Texas. November 1963
"They brought Lee Harvey Oswald in, and I suppose he was five/six feet away from me, and either he didn't know what was going on or he was a very good actor. I mean he just looked like "come on guys, this has gone too far you know. Is this a joke or what?". And he had a big bruise on his cheek I remember. And I was standing over there watching him, and Henry Wade said something like "this is the man that's been charged with the assassination of President Kennedy", and general excitement and then he was lead away again. And, as I say, I've told this story so many times that I didn't really believe it myself. But then I was around at Andy Kershaw's a couple of years ago, and he'd got one of these TV documentaries about it, and they were showing this film of the whole proceedings. I mean they'd put the film on to demonstrate the fact that Jack Ruby was in the room as well , which I hadn't known till I'd seen this film. But in the last few frames there's me and my mate Bob standing there just watching. So it was true, and I was rather startled to be honest to see the truth of it demonstrated."
"In 1960, when I first arrived in Dallas, well I hadn't been there very long and there was the election. And they had the parades on consecutive days and their car came to a complete standstill. So I ran out and shook hands with him and said something like "good luck Mr Kennedy" and he said, and it does sound so implausible, I'm almost embarrassed to tell you, cause people think "oh, come on!" But he said something like "you're from England aren't you?" And I said "yes", and he said "what are you doing here?" So I said "well I just came over for a few months to learn about the cotton industry". So we had a bit of a chat, and, you know, I didn't know whether it was a couple of minutes or a thirty seconds or whatever". For a politician I'd have thought this is probably unique. I mean he talked about me, rather than himself. Cause he seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing for a short period of time. So obviously after that I wanted him to win the election so I could say "well there's my mate John, he's The President of The United States now."
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