- He didn't rate either Bruce Springsteen, U2, The Police or Dire Straits, all of whom went on to multi-million-selling and stadium-filling success, and was proud that he hadn't booked them for Peel sessions in their early careers or played their records.
- Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding contribution to British music and integral part of British music culture. (16 November 2005).
- He was a lifelong passionate supporter of Liverpool Football club.
- He was a DJ for BBC Radio 1 since it started in the late 1960s. He also presented the BBC Radio 4 magazine programme Home Truths from 1998 until his death.
- As a young DJ working in Dallas, TX, he was admitted to the conference where Lee Harvey Oswald was presented to the press, shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Peel can be seen in archive footage).
- His favorite song was "Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones. After the announcement of his death, the song was played on the radio, and by many, many bands (who owe their careers at least partly to him) who had gigs that night.
- First worked as a DJ as "John Raven Croft" on Radio KOMA in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- His funeral was conducted in St Edmundsbury Cathedral, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, near to his Suffolk home.
- Founded his own label, Dandelion Records, in England in 1969. It went out of business in 1973.
- Regularly narrated documentaries and did voice overs for advertisements, too numerous to mention.
- He was diabetic.
- Father of Thomas Ravenscroft.
- His favourite album of 1970 was Michael Chapman's "Fully Qualified Survivor".
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