Countries


 * Countries.jpg(For further details of Peel shows for non-UK audiences, see Planet Peel. See also category: Places.)

Peel travelled to many countries outside his home in England as part of holiday trips and his work with the BBC and other media companies, despite his fear of flying. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along with England are considered countries of the United Kingdom, hence why the first three are included in the list below, as Peel's trips outside England.

Europe
(The list maybe incomplete. Please add further information if known)
 * Austria: Peel presented shows for Austria's Ö3 radio station between 1989 and 1994. On his 05 August 1991 (Ö3) show 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). He was also present at the Heysel stadium disaster in the same city in 1985.
 * Bulgaria: Peel first visited Bulgaria in the summer of 1991 which was reflected in two BBC World Service programmes, devoted completely to the Bulgarian rock scene: 01 August 1991 (BBC World Service) and 08 August 1991 (BBC World Service). He also claimed on his show on 22 November 2001 to be one of the few people in the country to have visited Bulgaria twice (1991 & 1994):
 * "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 travelled to Prague on his European road trip, that was broadcast on 16 October 1992 as part of the BBC's Radio campaign on work opportunities in Europe.


 * ​Denmark: Peel is back fom 10 days in Denmark and Sweden on 29 October 1993 (BFBS). On his Peel 059 (BFBS) show from 1st May 1987, Peel mentions visiting Denmark and complaining that it is expensive and nearly everything shuts:
 * "As I said at the beginning of the programme, just come back from a couple of weeks or about 10 days driving around in Scandinavia. People warned me before I went there that it was very expensive, and indeed this turned out to be the case. What they hadn't warned me about too was that everything is shut, and when I say "everything", absolutely everything was shut: nothing was open whatsoever, even like the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, which are world famous, Easter Bank Holiday, you think they'd be teeming with people: shut. Everything shut: quite extraordinary. Except actually there was a record shop I found that was open, but the prices in there: it was like £9 for one of those Peel Session EPs, so I didn't buy any records."


 * 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 first presented shows for Finland's Rockradio (later changed to Radiomafia) in 1987 but only first visited the country in 2001, where he broadcast his show on BBC Radio One on 09 May 2001.
 * France: Peel took holidays to France over the years.
 * 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. He also regularly travelled there to record his shows in the studios of Radio Bremen.
 * Greece: Peel went on holiday to Crete in April 1985 (see Peel 010 (BFBS)).
 * Hungary: Peel visited Budapest on his European road trip that was broadcast on 16 October 1992 as part of the BBC's Radio campaign on work opportunities in Europe.
 * Ireland: Peel took his first holiday with Sheila in Ireland in 1969 with Andy Roberts and Adrian Henri of The Liverpool Scene. He also visited Dublin in the summer of 1979 to see Status Quo headline an all day music festival.
 * Isle Of Man: Not part of the UK, but an internal self-governing Crown dependency. Peel and Andy Kershaw both regularly visited the island during the TT Races. However in 1996, Peel had to rush home from the island when his wife Sheila suffered a brain haemorrhage, which she slowly recovered from.
 * Italy: Peel and Sheila with John's brother Alan took on a driving holiday in mainland Europe in the summer of 1969. The holiday included their first trip to Venice. (Margrave Of The Marshes, Corgi edition, p237)
 * Latvia: On the 09 October 1992 show, 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". In 2002, Peel played some tracks from a Latvian band called Depo on his shows and made their album Alepo, his album of the month in August 2002 (Peel's Record Box).
 * Lithuania: Peel mentions visiting Vilnius, the capital city on his show from 04 August 1992 (Ö3):
 * "I mentioned at the start of the programme that I'd been in Vienna...I was on my way, actually, to St. Petersburg, and I went in a bus from St. Petersburg, down through the Baltic states, and then from Vilnius back to the airport. It's a nice airport, I've got nothing against it at all. If you want to buy something like an expensive pair of shoes, or some useful and expensive glassware, or quilts or something like that, then quite clearly the Wiener airport is the place to go. On the other hand, if you want something like a cheese sandwich and an aspirin, forget it, because they don't seem to have such things."


 * Netherlands: Peel did reports for Dutch TV in late summer/early autumn of 1967 and also visited at least one festival in Amsterdam, then a centre of hippy culture, during that year. He regularly visited Groningen during their Eurosonic / Noorderslag festivals in the early 21st century. As well as being an announcer at the Pink Pop festival in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he also visited the country regularly during the mid-1980s for the programmes he presented for the VPRO station.
 * Northern Ireland: Peel rarely visited Northern Ireland, possibly due to the long distance by car and ferry, as well as his fear of flying, but did visit the area in 2001 to make a TV documentary about the Undertones called The Story Of The Undertones: Teenage Kicks.
 * Portugal: Peel visited Portugal during the Milk Cup Final, where Liverpool were playing against Everton at Wembley Stadium in March 1984. Before visiting the country he was quoted in saying:
 * "I've chosen to go to Portugal in the week of the Milk Cup final, so I shall be lying motionless in the sun like a beached whale while the lads are battling at Wembley." 


 * Russia: JP seems ebullient in the first half of his 24 July 1992 show 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.
 * Scotland: Peel would often visit Scotland during his roadshow, especially Glasgow and Edinburgh and has hosted some of his BBC Radio One shows from there. On Sounds Of The Suburbs, broadcast in 1999, Peel visited Lanarkshire in southern Scotland to interview artists including Sean Dickson of the Soup Dragons and High Fidelity.
 * Spain: Peel regularly visited Barcelona as part of the Sonar festival with the last visit in 2004.
 * Sweden: Introducing the final Top Gear of 1967 with Tommy Vance, Peel talks of his "international travel in international times" and says he'll be boring his listeners with stories of his visits to the Netherlands and 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.
 * Switzerland: Peel visited Lausanne for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1989 and also made a BBC Radio One documentary of that experience.
 * Turkey: Peel is in Turkey as part of a music documentary on 19 November 1994 (BBC World Service).
 * Wales: Peel's family had links to Wales in terms of his grandfather living in Anglesey and himself going to prep school near Conwy and his national service in Ynys Môn.
 * Yugoslavia: Peel and Sheila went to the former Yugoslavia on a road journey in 1975 with the youth club, which was established by the couple for kids living in their area. There are no details on which part of the former Yugoslavia they visited. (Margrave Of The Marshes, Corgi edition, p341)

Asia
(The list maybe incomplete. Please add further information if known)
 * Hong Kong: John and Sheila went to Hong Kong and Japan for three weeks in 1986.
 * 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 Vapors 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 maybe 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, Corgi edition, p347)
 * Kenya: On his show from 04 August 1991, Peel mentioned visiting Kenya in 1972:
 * "Every once in a while, I dig out one of the Kenyan records that I bought when I went there on holiday in 1972 in the hope of making Andy Kershaw jealous: up until now, he's been largely indifferent to it all, but I shall persist."


 * Sierra Leone: On his show from 06 November 1989, Peel mentions returning from a working trip to the West African nation for the BBC World Service.
 * Zambia: Peel and Sheila crossed into Zambia from Zimbabwe in 1988 with the intention of crossing to see the Victoria Falls from the other side, while they were visiting Zimbabwe as a joint venture between the British Council and the BBC World Service. (Margrave Of The Marshes, Corgi edition, 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, Corgi edition, p404)

North America
(The list maybe incomplete. Please add further information if known)
 * America: John Peel lived in the United States for several years from spring 1960 before returning to the UK in 1967.
 * Canada: Peel and Sheila travelled from Toronto to the Niagara Falls on their weekend trip in 1978. (Margrave Of The Marshes, Corgi edition, p364)
 * Mexico: Peel and his friend Harry crossed the American/Mexican border in 1962 from the US city of Laredo to the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo to visit Harry's favourite brothel. (Margrave Of The Marshes, Corgi edition p205, p249)
 * St. Lucia: Peel mentions his trip to the Caribbean island on his show of 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."

South America
(The list is complete)
 * Peru: The only country Peel visited in South America where he tragically died of a heart attack in October 2004.

Oceania
(The list is complete)
 * New Zealand: Peel with his wife visited the country in March 2002 as part of their holiday.