Shrewsbury and the sixties
It is a strange but undeniable fact that I was at school at Shrewsbury in the 1950s with two boys who later changed their names and who both went on to become very successful disc jockeys.

The first, Simon Dee, (whose real name was Carl Henty-Dodd) was a big shot in the Sixties but subsequently fell from grace and is now a lonely and forgotten figure.

The second was John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, who changed his name to John Peel. He adopted a Liverpool accent, grew a beard and died last week aged 65 to the most glowing and effusive obituaries that anyone could hope for.

Richard Ingrams The Observer 31 October 2004