Home Truths - First edition - John Peel

Who would cast John Peel to host a Radio 4 programme? Who would consider a programme on Radio 4 which focussed fairly regularly on trivial domestic nonsense?

Someone very, very clever.

Home Truths cheered up the nation every Saturday morning from April 1998. On occasions, the show made us cry too.

The casting was clever. John never took centre stage in what he did: he’d always played second fiddle beautifully to his music. On Home Truths, he quietly let the listeners become the stars. They opened up to John about those relatable instances in their own lives which chimed with so many. And those odd occurrences too. It was also time for John to assume his role as national treasure; given the establishment had now grown up at the same pace he had. And he'd been with them on the journey.

John had hosted a show earlier in the '90s called ‘Offspring. ‘Home Truths’ simply broadened its scope.

Despite his measured contribution, or maybe even because of it, the programme was never the same when he went on holiday. Similarly, without causing offence to those who filled his shoes so valiantly after his ridiculously premature death, it was never the same after we lost him. It was wise for the BBC to rest the series in 2006. We miss it; just as we miss John.

Enjoy here a clip of the first edition.