Margrave of the Marshes

When he died in October 2004, John Peel had only written the first part of an autobiography. He had only reached 1964 and was only just over half way through his time in the USA. When his wife Shelia picks up his story, the writing did not contain the same witty, intimate and captivating recollections to which John was privy, and I nearly called it a day. However, sheer curiosity kept me going, and I was rewarded with an incredible tale of an amazing man.

In the last words of Chapter Three, John recalls "I allowed my life to be transformed by hearing first Lonnie Donegan". And the first part of Chapter Four is a tribute to this event. Now I cannot say my life was transformed by Lonnie. I happened to be only eleven when "Rock Island Line" reached the charts in 1956 and John Peel was fifteen. However it did pave the way, even at such an early age, for my love of folk/country/rock that this record embodied.

When we lived in London in the 1950's, I can remember my brother and I being put in the care of the guard on the train from St Pancras to Rotherham to visit our grandmother (Nanan) in the summer holidays. She used to meet us at the station and take us to the semi on Wordsworth Drive. Still living at home with her were three uncles, all in their twenties. The youngest was Geoff and he was the one who owned "Rock Island Line" on a single 78 (rpm). During the day we were allowed to play this and an LP of Bill Haley's "Rock around the Clock". It was the single that I thought was magic, and it was played time and time again. It certainly has influenced my musical taste to this day. When Johnny Walker included requests in his Drivetime show on Radio 2, the four he played of mine started with "Rock Island Line".

Like John Peel, I was never a huge fan of Lonnie's comedy records, although the inspired release of a live recording for "My Old Man's a Dustman" is still entertaining. But it was records such as "Cumberland Gap", "Jack O'Diamonds" and "The Grand Coolie Dam" that I shall remember. John Peel may have mentioned "Six Five Special". This was probably the first rock and roll music programme on British TV. It started on the BBC in 1957 and Lonnie was one of the stars, so it was obviously my favourite programme of the week. A black and white film version was made the next year and mum took us to see it, one of my first movie memories.