John Cameron Andrieu Bingham Michael Morton, better known by his preferred abbreviation J. B. Morton (7 June 1893 – 10 May 1979) was an English humorous writer noted for authoring a column called "By the Way" under the pen name 'Beachcomber' in the Daily Express from 1924 to 1975. G. K. Chesterton described Morton as "a huge thunderous wind of elemental and essential laughter"; according to Evelyn Waugh, he had "the greatest comic fertility of any Englishman".
Links to Peel[]
Peel was a fan of J.B. Morton's work and in several shows and interviews praised his writings, as well as a TV series based on his work, The World of Beachcomber, with Spike Milligan, which he recommended on his 04 February 1968 show. He even played a track called Beachcomber by Big Jay McNeely on 06 September 1988, because he admired the writings of J.B. Morton - as an American, Big Jay MacNeely would never have heard of Morton.
Presumably Morton's books were out of print in the late 1960s, because Peel mentioned on the Top Gear of 22 June 1969 that he had been unable to find copies and hoped his listeners could help. The humour of the Beachcomber column was a little old-fashioned by the time Peel drew attention to it, but Morton wrote in a whimsical, slightly surreal style, which appealed to the DJ's somewhat conservative literary tastes.