The family of the late Radio 1 DJ John Peel said yesterday they had made no decisions about the long-term future of his enormous record collection.
After Peel’s death at the age of 65 two years ago, there was speculation within the music industry that the collection would go to the British Library. But Peel, who came from Liverpool and lived at Great Finborough, Suffolk, has left the collection – thought to contain around 25,000 vinyl albums and thousands of singles and CDs – to wife Sheila as part of his estate. His daughter Alexandra, 28, said: "We’ve not had any discussions about what is going to happen to the collection in the long term. For the present, it will remain at home."
Last year Peel’s wife told the BBC World Service: "The records here are John and I can’t imagine how we all would feel if, for whatever reason, they were suddenly removed from us. It would be just awful.
"It makes us feel rather good that they’re all here. And we play them." But she added: "I’ve got to be realistic and I know there will be some period when we’ve got to say ’Come on, be sensible’, because there’s no way we can play them all or appreciate them."
A spokesman for the British Library said he could not comment on whether officials had been involved in discussions about the Peel collection.
The library’s sound archive holds what it describes as "one of the most wide-ranging collections of popular music in the world". Officials say the library is "the premier public research facility for pop music in the UK".
Peel, a father of four who died of a heart attack during a trip to Peru, left more than #1.5 million in his will, details of which have just emerged.
