Peel has trouble getting into BBC

ROBERT SELLERS’ latest book on Radio 1 is sprinkled with anecdotes about the conflicts between the pirate DJs and the old guard at the BBC.

In one such story, late veteran John Peel had some trouble even getting in to the building, in a memory told by Tony Brandon.

Sellers writes: “He presented himself in the garb of he day: shoulder-length hair, the obligatory kaftan and probably sandals or flipflops – John wasn’t a man given to wearing shoes. ‘Excuse me, sir, can I help you?’ said one of these rather officious commissionaires. ‘Yes,’ said John. ‘My name’s John Peel’. ‘Oh, really, they all say that, sir.’ And they wouldn’t let him in.”

Peel had to ring his producer to “convince” them.