Bibliofemme News

John Peel's death has left an empty space in the BBC, they need to find a replacement who will enthusiastically promote new music and also someone to fill his role as presenter of the popular Radio 4 show Home Truths.

However the biggest space left is in finishing the telling of his life story and Transworld are hopeful that Sheila will help them complete his book.

'Obviously what we really wanted was the whole thing from the man himself,' said Patrick Janson Smith, of Transworld. 'It is too soon for anyone to decide, but we would certainly like one of the family to be closely involved. The other option is to finish the book with a series of tributes.'

Peel's widow has just returned from Peru, where her 65-year old husband died suddenly of a heart attack 12 days ago.

While Peel's widow now considers her options, an unauthorised biography of her husband is already under way. Written by rock journalist Mick Wall, it is due to be published by Orion later this month. Liverpool-based Elius Books has announced it is to publish a book in memory of Peel next spring, made up of contributions from colleagues and fans. The publishers say it will be 'upbeat' in tone, but that commissioning is still in progress.

Peel's own book was to have been delivered to Transworld soon. 'We were very happy with John's progress and had expected to see a manuscript late this year or perhaps early next,' said Janson Smith.

A fourth literary tribute in the planning stage is a collection of Peel's journalism. He wrote, mainly about music, for the underground magazine Oz in the Sixties and for music newspapers such as Disc and Sounds. Later he contributed to Punch and the Radio Times.

Another issue is the future of his 40,000 albums on vinyl, tape and CD, many of them unique. It is thought Peel hoped the British Library's national sound archive would take over the collection. An American radio company is already reported to have offered $1 million for it.

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