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Broadcaster John Peel dies in Peru


LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Veteran disc jockey and broadcaster John Peel has died in Peru while on holiday in the ancient Inca city of Cuzco, his employer the BBC and the British embassy say.

"He passed away. We don't have any details. We received a phone call at 4 a.m. from his brother to inform us," said Jonathan Clare, an embassy official in Lima.

The BBC in London said on Tuesday Peel was on a working holiday in Cuzco with his wife, Sheila. There was no other comment from the BBC.

Peel, born in 1939, was one of the country's original pirate radio disc jockeys in the 1960s, broadcasting from ships anchored just outside British waters that won huge followings. Peel was his assumed "pirate" name.

In the late 1970s he championed punk rock to the consternation of many of his radio contemporaries who were still playing rock supergroups -- and were convinced the new music fad would never have any real impact.

Peel -- an authority on independent music -- was honoured with an Order of the British Empire.