John Peel in Folkestone

FG ≫ 2006 ≫ John Peel in Folkestone

There's a new John Peel bootleg of a forty year old pirate radio show1, I didn't realise the Folkestone connection before:

As he signed off his final late-night Perfumed Garden show, pirate DJ John Peel was convinced it was the end of his brief, subversive radio career.

Now, almost 40 years later, listeners will once again experience the dying murmurs of his show when the BBC puts his last Radio London programme back on the airwaves later this month.

Peel was forced off air when pirate stations - at the time the only outlet for pop music in the UK - were outlawed in 1967, leaving him high and dry. Luckily, within days he was rescued from obscurity and signed as a launch presenter for Radio 1 and became one of Britain's best-loved and respected broadcasters.

Peel would spend two of every three weeks aboard the Galaxy, moored off Folkestone, presenting his midnight show. Because the boat was in international waters, it was beyond the reach of British broadcasting restrictions until offshore stations too were outlawed in August 1967.

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This is my website The FG that I set up in a fury of excitement when I first came to Folkestone in approximately '04. I had been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that so I am technically one of those DFLs you get now. This site was updated more frequently with a calendar of events + voting for favourite places and things, and I know it was a handy resource for others who were moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though just a couple of miles) it doesn't get as much love as it used to. Ironic really as Folkestone itself is becoming the exciting place we knew it was just about to. My name is not Gerald by the way, the name comes from the name of a pretend newspaper in an episode of The Day Today or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local paper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are GRATE aren't they? Do contact me if you have anything to contribute, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on Twitter.