British Broadcasting Corporation

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004. He was known for his eclectic... taste in music and his honest and warm broadcasting style. He was one of the first broadcasters to play psychedelic rock and progressive rock records on British radio, and he is widely acknowledged for promoting artists working in various genres, including pop, reggae, indie rock, alternative rock, punk, hardcore punk, breakcore, grindcore, death metal, British hip hop, and dance music. Peel's Radio 1 shows were notable for the regular 'Peel sessions', which usually consisted of four songs recorded by an artist live in the BBC's studios, and which often provided the first major national coverage to bands that later would achieve great fame. Another popular feature of his shows was the annual Festive Fifty countdown of his listeners' favourite records of the year.
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Dame Jennifer Gita Abramsky, DBE is chairman of the UK's National Heritage Memorial Fund . The NHMF makes grants to preserve heritage of outstanding... national importance. Until her retirement from the BBC Jenny Abramsky was its most senior woman employee; she was Director of Audio and Music. She is the daughter of Professor Chimen Abramsky and the granddaughter of Rabbi Yehezkel Abramsky. She was educated at Holland Park School in London and the University of East Anglia, where she read English. In 1969, Abramsky joined the BBC as a programmes operations assistant, and in 1973 was appointed as a producer of The World at One. She became the first woman editor of the agenda-setting Today programme, ran the first Gulf War Radio 4 News FM service, and went on to launch Britain's first continuous news and sport radio station, Five Live, before launching the television channel BBC News 24. She also launched the BBC's online news website, news.bbc.co.uk which became one of the world's most highly accessed websites.
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