Radio 1 DJ and presenter Andy Peebles dies aged 76

Former Radio 1 DJ Andy Peebles, the last person to interview John Lennon, has died at the age of 76, his family has confirmed.

He presented on BBC Radio 1 from 1978 to 1992 and also hosted a number of editions of Top of the Pops in the 1970s and 80s.

Peebles interviewed Lennon two days before the musician’s murder in December 1980.

Friends and former colleagues have paid tribute, calling him “a lovely man and a great broadcaster”.

Born in 1948, Peebles spent the late 1960s as a nightclub DJ, before turning his hand to radio.

He began his illustrious broadcasting career at BBC Radio Manchester in 1973, before going on to found the independent radio station Piccadilly Radio one year later.

In 1978 he moved to BBC Radio 1 where he would spend the next 14 years. He also presented on BBC Radio Lancashire.

It was during this tenure that Peebles interviewed John Lennon – the last that the former Beatle would do before he was shot and killed in New York in 1980.

Following Lennon’s death, Peebles maintained a friendship with his partner Yoko Ono and interviewed her again in 1983, in Tokyo, Japan.

Speaking on CBS about the interview with Lennon, Peebles said “I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous in my life.

“I’d grown-up not just idolising him but the group (The Beatles) and everything they’d done.”

Peebles was also one of the presenters at Wembley Stadium for the Live Aid concert in 1985, introducing artists including David Bowie, Spandau Ballet and Paul Young.

He would go on to broadcast for the British Forces Broadcasting Service and the BBC World Service.

His former Radio 1 colleague Mike Read paid tribute on social media saying he was “devastated” by the news.

Read said Peebles “knew his music & cricket inside out. Raise your bat & enjoy a long rest in the pavilion”.

BBC broadcaster Tony Blackburn also expressed his sadness at the news, calling him “a lovely man and a great broadcaster”.