Liverpool


 * His long-standing idol from the team was Bily Liddell, whose portrait hung in the dining room at Peel Acres: an autograph signed on a newspaper flier by the player was kept in his father's old desk and John referred to it as 'perhaps the most sacred item I own.'
 * Sheila said was surprised when he said he would pick her up at 5 p.m. for their first date only after hearing the football results.
 * As further evidence of his devotion to Liverpool FC, John named his children Alexandra Mary Anfield; Florence Victoria Shankly; Thomas James Dalglish; and William Robert Anfield Ravenscroft.
 * Sheila relates that when they first moved to Suffolk, John was a regular attendee at Liverpool's home ground of Anfield, until work commitments prevented him from doing so (although he made half-hearted attempts to get a season ticket when William was at university).
 * They were both present at the Heysel stadium disaster] on May 29 1985 at which 39 people died. He did not go to another match for several years as a result. He was also heavily affected by the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives.
 * Terrace hero Robbie Fowler was latterly a great favourite in the Peel household, and John was outraged when the striker was sold to Leeds United in November 2001 for £11m. When the news of the transfer broke on 27 November, the Pig conspired with producer Louise by telephone to keep this from John until the end of his programme that night, fearing he would talk about it too much. Peel made his thoughts clear on the following night's show, 28 November 2001: "I've supported Liverpool for over 50 years and I don't think I've ever been as upset or outraged by anything that they did... In our family we're heartbroken by it."