Editing John Peel (section)

== Early life ==
Peel was born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft at a nursing home in [[Heswall]] on 30 August 1939,<ref>{{cite book |title=Margrave of the Marshes |author=Peel, John |year=2005 |page=7 |quote=described in his autobiography as "Heswall Cottage Hospital"}}</ref><ref name= OxDict>{{cite ODNB |url=https://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/94387 |title=Peel, John [real name John Robert Parker Ravenscroft] (1939–2004), radio and television broadcaster |year=2008 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/94387 |access-date=13 May 2019|last1=Rooksby |first1=Rikky }}</ref> the son of Joan Mary (née Swainson)<ref name= OxDict /> and cotton merchant Robert Leslie Ravenscroft.<ref name=OxDict /><ref name="Heatley">{{harvnb|Heatley|2004|p=12}}</ref> He had two younger brothers and grew up in the nearby village of [[Burton, Ellesmere Port and Neston|Burton]].<ref name="Heatley" /> He was educated as a boarder at [[Shrewsbury School]],{{sfn|Heatley|2004|p=17}} where future [[Monty Python]] member [[Michael Palin]] was his contemporary.<ref>{{IMDb title|id=0814163|title=John Peel's Record Box}}, 2005</ref> In his posthumously published autobiography, Peel said that he was raped by an older pupil while at the school.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kumi |first=Alex |date=10 October 2005 |title=Peel's child rape revelation praised by campaigners |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,1074,1588441,00.html |access-date=9 February 2013}}</ref>

Peel was an avid radio listener and record collector from an early age, firstly of music offered by the [[American Forces Network]] and [[Radio Luxembourg (English)|Radio Luxembourg]].<ref name=Flipside>{{cite journal |first1=Andy |last1=Chapman |first2=Coal |last2=Latter |title=John Peel |journal=Flipside |number=65 |date=Spring 1990 |pages=47–49}}</ref> He recalled an early desire to host a radio programme of his own "so that I could play music that I heard and wanted others to hear".<ref name=Flipside /> His housemaster, R. H. J. Brooke, whom Peel described as "extraordinarily eccentric" and "amazingly perceptive", wrote on one of his school reports, "Perhaps it's possible that John can form some kind of nightmarish career out of his enthusiasm for unlistenable records and his delight in writing long and facetious essays."<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/biography/1930s/1939-1959 |title=Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – Biography – 1939–1959 |publisher= BBC|access-date=9 February 2013}}</ref>

Peel completed his [[national service]] in 1959 in the [[Royal Artillery]] as a B2 [[radar]] operator.{{sfn|Heatley|2004|p=25}} Afterwards, he worked as a mill operative at Townhead Mill in [[Rochdale]]{{sfn|Heatley|2004|p=26}} and returned each weekend to Heswall on a scooter borrowed from his sister. While in Rochdale during the week, he stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in the area of Milkstone Road and Drake Street, and developed long-term associations with the town as the years progressed.{{cn|date=February 2024}}