Dedicated to the cause.(Dooley's Diary)

Remember where you heard it: The week was dominated by reminiscences about the astonishing life and times of John Peel. Among the thousands of tributes flooding in, one-time Radio One boss Matthew Bannister further shedded light on just how dedicated to the cause Peelie really was. "I remember someone sent him a demo tape from Cornwall, which he really liked. He played it on the show, rang the kid up and said he liked it and then headed to Cornwall to have tea with his family" ... Bannister's successor Andy Parfitt is naturally paying a patient game over what to do with Peers now vacant slots in the station schedule. "It's early days and I don't know," he says. "The words irreplaceable are banded about, but with John it's absolutely so true" ... Meanwhile fellow broadcaster Charlie Gillett had been mulling over how Laurie Anderson's Oh Superman was the record that for him epitomised Peel the most--"It's both very weird and very long--eight minutes 21 seconds. I don't remember anyone else playing it yet it reached number two in the charts thanks to John Peel" ... Meanwhile there was a timely reminder of the great man's support for the obscure on Channel 4 news, which ran a feature on Jonathan Demme's use of a song by long-forgotten teen punksters The Prats on the soundtrack for his forthcoming movie The Manchurian Candidate. By pure coincidence the report, broadcast on Monday night, included an excerpt of Peel talking about the band from an archive recording of the show when he broadcast their first session. Spooky ... Elsewhere Andy Parfitt was almost caught off guard by Telegraph radio critic Gillian Reynolds at the BBC charter review public ...