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   Review: John Peel’s Shed – The Lowry, Salford
Writer: John Osborne
Reviewer: Jo Beggs The Public Reviews Rating: Four out of Five. When John Osbourne, awkward teenager, first tuned his radio to John Peel’s late night show he didn’t much like it. It was all “a bit loud”. I suspect that this has been the case for a whole generation of radio listeners but it’s not cool to admit it. But Osborne was determined to persevere. He wanted to be one of those people, part of the community of listeners, sharing difficult music late into the night. And he succeeded. By the time he got to university he was planning his social life around being in listening distance of his radio by 10pm every night. In 2002 Osbourne won a competition on Peel’s show. Typically the prize wasn’t some shiny new merchandise shipped from a PR company, but an old box of records straight from the great man’s shed, brought round to Osbourne by a couple of Peel’s mates. Although it’s that box of records that form the premise of the show, this hour with Osbourne is really an ode to radio, a genuine outpouring of his love for the wireless. Osborne tells us about his experiment to listen to as many different stations as possible, a different one each day whilst working in data entry at Anglia Windows. He explores his on-off relationship with Radio One and dabbles in a little psychology to find the answers. He recalls his favourite call-ins, on-air jokes, the first time he heard How Soon Is Now and it changed his life. If radio hasn’t played a big part on your own life, then you might find Osbourne’s enthusiasm a little baffling. There is no doubt that he’s a radio nerd. But for the thousands of people who tuned into Radio Caroline long after they should have been in bed asleep, for those whose working hours are accompanied by the cheery babble of local DJs, for those who taped the charts on a Sunday and cursed Kid Jenson talking over the end of the songs, Osbourne’s show is a slice of fervent nostalgia. The show is, to some extent, a potted version of Osborne’s 2009 book Radio Head, which explains why it’s so thoroughly researched and well formed, yet Osbourne delivers it with such boyish enthusiasm, you feel as though you’re the first person to listen to these lovely radio-related snippets. The old chair, standard lamp and record player only add to the domestic atmosphere he creates with his slightly shambolic delivery. Osbourne is a charming, funny writer and a likeable performer, and in John Peel’s Shed he has made a sincere and thoroughly enjoyable show.
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