America

John Peel lived in the United States for several years from spring 1960 before returning to the UK in 1967.

In summer 2000, he returned to New York for the first time in many years with wife Sheila, meeting up with Laura Cantrell during their visit. When 9/11 occurred in New York, Peel said on air that his first thought was for Laura Cantrell's safety, because she worked in the financial district worst affected by the explosions.

Radio Career
Peel started his radio career in the USA in the early 1960s and worked successively at KLIF in Dallas, KOMA in Oklahoma City and KMEN in San Bernadino, California, under the his real name of John Ravenscroft (shortened in California to John Ravencroft).

The DJ marked the 40th anniversary of his radio career on his BBC Radio One programme of 11 October 2001, although he admitted he was unclear about the exact date of his first appearance on the Kat's Karavan show on WRR in Dallas. Very few clips from Peel's US career remain, although some were aired on Radio Radio and other documentaries.

In the early 1990s, Peel recorded a series of shows called Peel Out In The States for distribution to local stations in the US.