Isle Of Man

Isle of Man (in Manx, Ellan Vannin) is an island in the British Isles, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. It is a British Crown dependency (and therefore not part of the United Kingdom itself); the UK is responsible for defence and foreign affairs. The island has its own government (headed by a Chief Minister) and parliament - "Tynwald" (consisting of the democratically-elected "House of Keys" and the nominated "Legislative Council".) The Isle of Man is not a full member of the European Union, but an associate member. Every year on the island in June, the TT Races takes place on public roads closed for racing, where motorcycling tourists visit to experience legal high speed motorcycle racing.

Links To Peel
Peel first visited the island with Andy Kershaw in June 1991 to see the TT Races and described his experiences of visiting the place and the race on his show broadcast on 21 June 1991 (BFBS). For nearly every year in the early 90's, Peel would visit the island, but in 1996, whilst at the Isle Of Man TT Races with Kershaw, Peel learned that Sheila had suffered a brain haemorrhage and immediately went back to Peel Acres to visit her at hospital. Although Sheila appeared to have made a complete recovery, John was understandably shaken. Peel also discovered a band from the Isle Of Man called Colon, who were a noise rock band, heavily influenced by Sonic Youth and Big Black. The band recorded a session for Peel's show in July 1990, that was broadcast at the end of the month and repeated in October 1990.