I'm sure that most visitors to ASFM are big fans of John Peel, where else would we have heard those classic obscure punk and reggae songs (and lots more genres) in the late seventies and early eighties (and much much further). Like many others I would sit there and tape each show and unfortunately clip out the great mans voice (if only more of us had kept all of the shows, many now lost forever), which was easy as he was one of the only DJ's that would play a song from start to finish without interruption. My other favourite part of the John Peel show was his legendary festive fifty which each year we would avidly listen to, waiting to see who had made it to number one. Surely it has to go down as the greatest chart show ever.
So if any of you felt the same as me, you're going to look forward to reading the new book and admiring Lee Thackers beautiful illustrations. Lee came up with the idea to write and draw an illustrated memoir of the Festive fifty number ones, with contributions from some of the bands. Nolan over at Castles In Spain has already made a post where you can see some more of Lee's work and words here and a lot more at his own blog here.
Lee has kindly let me share some of his artwork here (your not going to be surprised at my choice), of which some of these won't be appearing in the new book. You can preorder the book on eBay and when published will also be available here at a retail price of around £10.
So what are you waiting for, check out Lee's blog, order the book and why not leave a comment on your memories of John Peel and the festive fifty. I'm sure Lee will respond.
