Francis Ravenscroft

Francis Ravenscroft, sometimes known as Frank, is one of John Peel's brothers along with Alan. Peel in Margrave Of The Marshes described how him and Francis in their childhood saw their father after a long time, but couldn't recognise him when he came home after military service.

Francis gave Peel his first EP in the 1950's, which had on one side two tracks by Bing Crosby and on the other side, two tracks by Russ Columbo. The Bing Crosby track, 'Just A Gigolo' was later added by Peel to his Peelenium 1931 in 1999.

Francis was audience guest on Peel's This Is Your Life, which was broadcast on January 1996 after Peel received the big red book from Michael Aspel after presenting Top Of The Pops on 14th December 1995.

Not much is known about Francis, compared to his youngest brother Alan Ravenscroft, but pictures of Francis with his son (Sascha), brothers and parents taken sometime in the 60's/70's can be found published in Margrave Of The Marshes.

Mentioned In Shows
1987 1991 1992 1995 1998 1999
 * Peeling Back The Years 1 (Transcript): "I mean, when people ask me what it was that I wanted for Christmas or birthdays, I just used to say, “Records.” And not specific records at all, just any record that they were prepared to buy for me I was perfectly happy to receive. And that went on for a few years. I mean, my brother Frank – Francis as he was in those days – one Christmas bought me an EP, the first EP that I ever owned, which had on one side two tracks by Bing Crosby, including Just A Gigolo, which is still one of my favourite songs, a very moving song. And on the other side, two tracks by Russ Columbo, who threatened to equal Bing Crosby but shot himself."
 * 04 November 1991 (Ö3): (JP: 'When I was a little tiny flaxen-haired child, my brother Francis and I used to have a secret word.')
 * Chain Reaction: David Gedge Interviews John Peel (Transcript):  (JP: "I have two brothers, Alan and Francis, and on one notable occasion she (Peel's mother) said, “Alan was always my favorite son, and then Francis.” And then she sort of fixed me with this steely gaze and said, “And then you!” But in her last years it wasn’t like that at all.")
 * 27 May 1995 (BFBS): (JP: 'As a boy, as I told you before, I was sent to dancing lessons, which I really hated, as you do, you know. This was to learn things like the foxtrot, the military two-step...and we used to be shoved into Neston Village Hall at the front, me brother Francis and meself, and the first few times we went, we just walked straight through the hall and out the back and hid in the lav until it was over, but they cottoned on to this after a while and we were compelled to dance. Francis and I, both rather shy country-ish children...I always used to end up dancing with this rather large young woman...whatever the season was, the back of her legs were always covered in mud. I always wondered what she did in her personal and private life that caused this to happen, but she was always covered in mud. And Francis used to dance with this enormously tall girl who he once rendered unconscious during one of the more complex manoeuvres of the foxtrot. Sort of head-butted her, I think, 'cos I was aware of a disturbance at the other end of the hall, and there was Frank standing over this unconscious girl on the floor, sobbing his eyes out, as you might imagine. It does set you against dancing, that sort of thing, I think.')
 * 29 December 1998: Delgados, 'Everything Goes Around The Water (CD single)' (Chemikal Underground) (JP: 'We love 'em in our house, even my brother Francis, who doesn't like anything.')
 * 27 July 1999: The Bing Crosby Peelenium track is cited by Peel as one of his favourite records ever, and is dedicated to his brother Francis, who gave JP a copy of the record when he was 10 years old, "and I've not stopped singing it since."