One of the joys of listening to both John Peel's Music (as I did in the 70s and 80s on BFBS) and Home Truths was that you were never sure what was coming next. In listing the articles alphabetically, rather than chronologically, John's family have captured that experience in print. The vagaries of titling lead one from Disc to Sounds to The Guardian, The Independent and The Radio Times, hopping in time from the early 70s to pieces written shortly before John's death. These then, are non-chronological chronicles. Very Peelian.
John's writing style matured with him; some of the early pieces are very much of their time, with bizarre phrases thrown in at random. John never missed the chance to talk football, specifically Liverpool, so many pieces lead one unexpectedly in that direction. There is a good index, which will no doubt prove useful as one tries to track down an amusing comment to read again.
Margrave of the Marshes, John's biography, was and is a wonderful book, all the more remarkable for being only partially written by John. This is pure John. I couldn't help wondering if there would be more to come. Not too many of John's Radio Times columns were featured, and I can remember that they were the reason I chose the RT over 'the other listings magazines that are available'. Many weeks I wiped away tears at John's musings. Could the family - or the BBC - have something else yet to come for us?
