Countries

(see also category: Places)

Peel visited many foreign countries as part of holiday trips and his work with the BBC and other media companies including Channel 4 and newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph.

Europe
(The list is incomplete. Please add further information if known)
 * Austria: On his 05 August 1991 (Ö3) Peel relates a visit to Vienna, during which he went to see John Lee Hooker, and took exception to the contributions made by the organ player in the band, each of whose solos, "in the manner of Keith Emerson", caused John to scream abuse at him.
 * Belgium: Peel visited Brussels during the Eurovision Song Contest in 1987 and met the royal family at that event on Peel 060 (BFBS).
 * Bulgaria: Peel claims on his show on 22 November 2001 to be one of the few people in the country who has been to Bulgaria twice: “The second time I went … I gave a press conference in something like the grand hall of the congress of the people. There were about 100 journalists in there and none of us knew why we were there. And one of them said, ‘Is it perhaps because you’ve been to Bulgaria twice?’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s as good a reason as any.’ So we kind of accepted that was why it was.”
 * Czech Republic: Peel mentioned on Peel Out In The States (Program 02) in 1993:
 * Last year, I spent quite a bit of time in what is still geographically Eastern Europe, and used to be politically Eastern Europe as well: the Baltic states, Russia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In all of these countries, I was looking for some decent music, and the trouble is that most of it is terrible, as you may well know. It's either second-rate metal or arts lab stuff played by people in their forties wearing funny costumes and silly hats. If you want a guiding principle for life, never trust bands who've got somebody in them who wears a silly hat. I mean, Mark E. Smith does not wear a silly hat: that's fairly obvious.


 * ​Denmark: Peel is back fom 10 days in Denmark and Sweden on 29 October 1993 (BFBS)
 * Estonia: On his show from 17 April 1993, Peel mentioned visiting the band Röövel Ööbik in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia during a 1992 BBC World Service documentary on the music scene of Russia and the Baltic states.
 * ​Finland: Peel visited the country in 2001 and reported it on his BBC Radio One show on 08 May 2001
 * France: Peel returns after having a fortnight's holiday in France on 19 August 2003
 * Germany: Peel visited the country in 1995 as part of the TV documentary Travels With My Camera: Autobahn Blues, which was broadcast on Channel 4 in 1996.
 * Greece: On Peel 010 (BFBS) in 1985, Peel returned from a holiday in Crete
 * Hungary: Peel visited the country on road as part of BBC Radio One's Euro Action specials on Peel Out In The States (Program 02)
 * Ireland: Peel visited Dublin in the summer of 1979 to see Status Quo headline an all day music festival.
 * Latvia: On 09 October 1992, Peel relates how he was speaking to a DJ in Riga, Latvia and that “the word Belgium was like a religious word to him – a sacred place"
 * Lithuania: Peel admits on his show on 24 July 1992 that the last couple of weekend shows have been pre-recorded as he has been on a BBC World Service trip to St Petersburg initially and then on a London double decker bus visiting Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
 * Netherlands: Peel regularly visited Groningen during their Eurosonic / Noorderslag festivals
 * Russia: JP seems ebuillent (in the first half of the show on 24 July 1992) following his trip to Russia and the Baltic States. Peel also made the trip to Russia on his radio documentary in 1988 called John Peel In Russia
 * Slovakia: Peel would have travelled through this country in 1992 in his car on his way to Hungary as part of BBC Radio One's Euro Action specials, when the Czech Republic and Slovakia were part of Czechoslovakia.
 * Spain: Peel regularly visited Barcelona as part of the Sonar festival
 * Sweden: Peel visits the country for the Euro Football Championship in 1992 and offers listeners on his show on 16 May 1992 to answer sports questions, where the prize winner will share an accomodation with him on the final.
 * Turkey: Peel is in Turkey as part of a music documentary on 19 November 1994 (BBC World Service)

Asia
(The list is incomplete. Please add further information if known)
 * China: John and Sheila did do many World service backed trips with Dave Tate between 86-93ish - eastern Europe, Sierra Leone, Hong Kong (refer to comments on John Peel In Russia)
 * India: John and Sheila went to the country in March 2002 as a holiday trip, where Peel visited the Taj Mahal and admitted on his show on 17 April 2002 singing "Turning Japanese" by the Vapours whilst in Rajasthan.
 * Japan: Peel visited the country only once, in 1986, when he and Janice Long presented programmes from a Yamaha shop in Shibuya, Tokyo, with JP acted as roving reporter. He also made a documentary for Radio One on the World Popular Song Festival, Japan, 1986.

Africa
(The list is incomplete. Please add further information if known)
 * Egypt: Peel, Sheila, Walters and his wife Helen spent a fortnight holiday in Egypt in April 1974, where Peel saw the pyramids. (Margrave Of The Marshes, p347)
 * Sierra Leone: On his show from 06 November 1989, Peel returns from a working trip to Sierra Leone for the BBC World Service.
 * Zambia: Peel and Sheila crossed the Zambian border with the intention of crossing to saee the Victoria Falls from the other side. (Margrave Of The Marshes, p406)
 * Zimbabwe: Peel and his wife Sheila visited the country in 1988 as a joint venture between the British Council and the BBC World Service. (Margrave Of The Marshes, p404)

North America
(The list is incomplete. Please add further information if known)
 * Canada: Peel and Sheila travelled from Toronto to the Niagra Falls on their weeken trip in 1978 (Margrave Of The Marshes, p364)
 * St Lucia: Peel mentions on his show from 05 April 1977: Today, I'm back from my holiday in St. Lucia, sunburned and rested, and tonight we have 57 minutes and 25 seconds of music that the original Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded for such BBC programmes as Saturday Club and Top Gear towards the end of the 1960s
 * USA: John Peel lived in the United States for several years from spring 1960 before returning to the UK in 1967. See America for more details.

South America

 * Peru: The only country Peel visited in South America and tragically the place where he suffered his heart attack and died there in October 2004.