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Margrave of the Marshes

By John Peel

(Bantam Press, £18.99, 432pp)

The first 165 pages of Margrave of the Marshes (Bantam Press, £18.99, 432pp.), were written by John Peel; the remainder was written up, from notes left by him, by his widow, Sheila Ravenscroft.

The transition, in both tone and content, is abrupt, and serves to emphasise the shocking premature suddenness of Peel's death.

It also illuminates a fascinating phenomenon: the difference between the respective manners in which marriage partners, one constrained by what might be broadly termed 'political' considerations, the other entirely unconstrained, select and describe a life's seminal events.

Thus Peel himself adopts his celebrated self-deprecating, ironically rueful stance to describe his schooldays, National Service and the beginnings of his DJing career in the USA; Sheila Ravenscroft goes under the surface of such events to give a frank summary of the emotional consequences attendant upon matters such as friends' betrayal (Marc Bolan's post-fame defection most traumatic), the consistent undervaluing of Peel's importance to UK music by the BBC, the initial disorientation and loneliness of rural life, the sheer hard work required to keep a six-person household functioning smoothly etc.

Viewed from a purely musical perspective, then, the book inevitably disappoints (Peel's views on, and anecdotes concerning, the likes of Captain Beefheart, Loudon Wainwright III, the Fall, White Stripes et al., plus his uniquely pertinent opinions on such matters as the public perceptions of punk, reggae and grime and a host of other topics would have made fascinating reading), but as a portrait of a touchingly companionable marriage and the tension between public persona and private personality, it's hard to beat.