Garner - The Peel Sessions: a story of teenage dreams and one mans love of new music

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Published in 2007 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.

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Copyright Ken Garner, 2007

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Peel photo on title page and at beginning of Part 2 Peter Macdiarmid.

Stefan Rousseau/PA Photos

IT WAS A strange sound, coming from somewhere else. It took everyone by surprise. For a moment no one knew what it was. Some later said they thought for a split second it was a sound effect on the PA, or a sudden downpour of rain. Others, however, who had lived in the shadow of Anfield, Portman Road or Hampden, remembered something else. It felt like nothing so much as what happens to the air around a football ground when the veteran local hero, brought off the bench one last time at twenty to five on a Saturday afternoon, scores the home teams winning goal. It was the sound of thousands nearby cheering a spontaneous, uncontrollable cheer of gratitude, of appreciation of talent, of respect, and love. The people who gave it were not celebrities, but fans. Most of the two thousand people who stood outside radio DJ John Peels funeral at Bury St Edmunds Cathedral on Friday 12 November 2004 and cheered his coffin as it was borne outside at the end of the service were, simply, his listeners.

I felt a real compulsion to be here, his death was a real shock, Lindsay Neil told the BBC News website reporter Caroline Briggs in the Cathedral close. I used to listen to John Peel with my headphones on under the bedclothes. The music I got to hear, like The Smiths, became my favourite bands. John has had a big influence on my life and shaped the person I have become. Claire Shilton said: I started listening to John Peel when I was 13 and got into punk music, I was still listening to him at 40. John has been a big part of my life. He was a lovely person. He had a bigger influence on my life than my parents. Rick Howes told Briggs: Johns death has left a big hole in my life. I have been listening to him for more than 30 years and Ive heard so many bands thanks to him. I cant believe Im never going to hear his voice on the radio again. After my father, he was the most important man in my life. He is irreplaceable. Briggs remembers that everyone she spoke to who had stood outside said these same things when asked: They had clearly come because they felt they had to be there. They felt he was their friend, they knew him. Thats what I took home with me.

John at Peel Acres with Sheila and dog Bridget. Eleanor Bentall/Corbis

Musicians came too, like John Yates and Nik Kavanagh from Liverpool band Ella Guru. They had released their debut album that August, Peel had been playing it and they had been invited to do their first session, then the terrible news came through of Peels death while on holiday in Peru on 25 October. We queued but ended up standing outside, says Yates; There was a real feeling of belonging in the crowd, possibly because we felt like he belonged to us all in one way or another. What was notable was the age range of the crowd. Hed served us all well. The feeling when the coffin was carried outside to the tune of Teenage Kicks was overwhelming. I dont mind saying that I cried. I looked around, lots of people were cheering and crying at the same time. It felt OK to.