When I lived in London we used to stay up to all hours to listen to him. Without him I never would have heard the Fall, Wire, and many many more.

A great loss to the music world.

I love anything British, especially classic rock, classic sports cars and country pubs.

There will always be an England.

I won't try to repeat what's already been said more eloquently on other sites, but when I was growing up John Peel was like a nice uncle who know a lot of cool stuff about music. He genuinely shirked away from 'celebrity' and just enjoyed playing his records and being involved wth music. When he wasn't on-air he was listening to demos that he'd been sent by young hopefuls. Most importantly, he didn't give a shit about what his bosses wanted him to play, he just did his own thing. He brought Punk to the UK and was always playing new bands to us: The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, The Smiths and latterly bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes. His shows were completely unprogrammed - I remember listening to Joe Tex followed by some Polka music and a prediction that Polka would be that year's big thing. Eloquent with acerbic wit, he was infamous for reasoning that some of the records that he played sounded better played at the wrong speed.

There is a tribute show on BBC Radio1 now, if you want to tune in over the web.

Listening to the Radio 4 tribute now - god I loved that intro music

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/frontrow_20041026.shtml?rhppromo1

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(Norman Rockwell's "Do Unto Others")