DJ and radio host John Peel’s funeral was held on this day, November 12, 2004, at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. Among the 1000-plus attendees were many artists, including Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, The White Stripes, and Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey.
His brother Alan Ravenscroft read a eulogy and so did fellow DJ Paul Gambaccini, who had once described Peel as “the most important man in music for about a dozen years.” His coffin was carried out to his favorite song, “Teenage Kicks” by The Undertones.
Peel was born on August 30, 1939 in Cheshire, England.