The Olivetti Chronicles

John Peel is best known for his four decades of radio broadcasting. His Radio 1 shows shaped the taste of successive generations of music lovers. His Radio 4 show, Home Truths, became required listening for millions. But all the while, Peel was also tapping away on his beloved Olivetti typewriter, creating copy for an array of patient editors. He wrote articles, columns and reviews for newspapers and magazines as diverse as The Listener, Oz, Gandalf's Garden, Sounds, the Observer, the Independent and Radio Times.Now for the first time, the best of these writings have been brought together - selected by his wife, Sheila, and his four children. Music, of course, is a central and recurring theme, and he writes on music in all its forms, from Tubular Bells to Berlin punk to Madonna. Here you can read John Peel on everything from the perils of shaving to the embarrassments of virginity, and from the strange joy of Eurovision to the horror of being sick in trains. At every stage, the writing is laced with John's brilliantly acute observations on the minutiae of everyday life.This endlessly entertaining book is essential reading for Peel fans and a reminder of just why he remains a truly great Briton.

Préface
The selected wit and wisdom of a national treasure

Auteur

John Peel was born the day before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. His 38-year career as a radio DJ is the stuff of legend and the bands he went on to discover too numerous to mention, though David Bowie, Roxy Music, T Rex, Genesis, Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, Radiohead and the White Stripes would do as a start. He lived in Suffolk with his wife Sheila and their children William, Thomas, Alexandra and Florence, plus various dogs and cats, until his death in October 2004.

Texte du rabat

'a welcome addition to Peel's printed oeuvre'

Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

'wonderfully surreal'

Sunday Times

John Peel is best known for his four decades of radio broadcasting. His Radio 1 shows virtually defined popular culture. His Radio 4 show, Home Truths, was required listening for millions. But all the while, John was also tapping away on his beloved Olivetti typewriter, writing articles, columns and reviews for an array of newspapers and magazines.

Now the best of these writings have been brought together. Read his thoughts on everything from the perils of shaving to the embarrassments of virginity; from the strange joy of Eurovision to the horror of being sick in trains; and on musicians as diverse as Captain Beefheart and Madonna. At every stage, the writing is laced with John's brilliantly acute observations on the minutiae of everyday life.

This endlessly entertaining book is essential reading for Peel fans and a reminder of just why he remains a truly great Briton.

9780552157049

www.rbooks.co.uk

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