Sheila Ravenscroft

Sheila Ravenscroft (born Sheila Gihooley) born in 1949, is of Irish catholic descent, who was born in Bradford, Yorkshire. She was married to John Peel in 1974 until his sudden death in 2004. Before meeting Peel, Sheila was training to be a chemistry school teacher until she met Peel at a television studio in 1968, where he was presenting a TV show called How It Is. Peel explains more detail on how he met her in a BBC interview called Interview: On Meeting Sheila.

Marriage To Peel
Sheila was affectionaly known as the pig by Peel, due to her characteristic laughs. They both had four children: William Ravenscroft (born 1976), Alexandra Ravenscroft (born 1978), Tom Ravenscroft (born 1980) and Florence Ravenscroft (born 1982), plus one grand child called Archie in 2003. The couple lived in London when they first met and later on decided to move to the countryside in Great Finborough, Suffolk where they lived in a house affectionately called Peel Acres.

Peel Acres
During their time living at Peel Acres, Sheila decided to be a housewife and was often involved in organising trips abroad for young people and getting involved in the village community with activities. John also got Sheila involved with his BBC Radio One shows, especially the Pig's Big 78, where Sheila would announce an old 78 rpm vinyl record, before getting played.

After Peel's Death
Since Peel's death in 2004, Sheila has been involved with the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts in Stowmarket, Suffolk, where they have a place for young people to get involved in theatre, arts and music. She's also involved with the Space project, where they aim to record John Peel's Record Collection on their virtual online museum website. Plus she enjoys choir singing and looking after her two grandchildren, Archie and Walter, who take up the rest of her time.