John Peel 1939 - 2004

Ar ol clywed y newydd trist heddiw, daeth y disgrifiadau canlynol gan Simon Armitage i gof. Rwy'n cofio tiwnio mewn i Radio 1 yn hwyr bob nos yn fy arddegau - i wrando ar 'Graveyard Shift' Marc a Lard, rhaid cyfadde, ond byddwn i wastad yn dal rhyw awr o John Peel cyn i hynny ddechrau. Roedd Armitage yn arfer darllen barddoniaeth ar rhaglen y ddau Marc - yn y dyfyniadau isod mae'n cofio un sioe pan oedd y cyflwynwyr arferol ar eu gwyliau, a Peel wrth y llyw. Roedd agwedd y dyn i weld mor gynnes a chyfarwydd, mae clywed Armitage yn ei alw'n "every bit as... well, every bit as John Peel as you thought he was and wanted him to be" yn ffitio'r ddelwedd oedd gen i ohono yn berffaith.

"At school, you and your best friend Rob used to take it in turns to record his show, edit the best bits, and swap tapes on the school bus. You always thought Peel knew you were doing this, and approved of it, because he never spoke a word until the last note of every record had dissolved into silence.

Not that it would have mattered if he had started to speak. His comments and quips and mumblings were just as important as the music, as were his technical hitches, which included playing at least two records per night at the wrong speed, and talking at great length about somebody's new single before playing the B-side."

"...he once DJ'd a live programme with John Lennon and Yoko from a studio in London. ...Telling me this and after mentioning Lennon for the third time, he refers to him simply as 'John', then stops and rolls his eyes, embarrassed to be speaking about him in first-name terms. He says, 'John! Well, it was his name.'"

Over the Top into Lancashire, tud. 77 a 79, All Points North, gan Simon Armitage