The Perfumed Garden with host Mike Wright

Some years ago..LOL! while under my bed sheets trying to grab Radio Luxemburg on my tiny transistor radio I happened on something else. At that time in the UK there was no pop music on radio anywhere in the UK. All we had available was Radio Luxemburg broadcast on AM from Luxemburg. It played primarily top 40 tunes of the day, and often limited playing tracks no longer than 3 mins in length.
What I happened on that night was not radio Luxemburg but something I'd never heard before. It was Radio London, it was a pirate radio broadcast from a ship moored just off the Thames estuary in the UK. I left my dial on this station that night and presently a show began to play it was John Peel's Perfumed Garden show...it was a night I'll never forget. He played music I'd mostly heard of before but never heard on radio..and for me it stoked a fire in me that has never gone out. Exposure to the likes of Captain Beefheart, Love from the US, the Doors and much more. Eventually Radio London was closed down and John Peel soon after began to broadcast for the BBC mostly on sunday's I listened to his BBC show for the years it ran. John Peel opened me to the fact that someone can grow successfully in career doing what they love without compromise in John's case a life of exposing the world to wonderful music as his inherent taste dictated. John sadly passed away in 2004 ..for many year his influence on music in the UK and other places was and remains significant.
Quite recently an opportunity came my way via a friend I'd met online. He (Jeff Byrd) suggested I have a go at making a radio show...With no formal radio show experience or training I took the chance and made a show, the kind of show I'd like to listen to hoping maybe others would like and appreciate my taste in music.
For a few minutes before recording I pondered what to call the show and immediately The Perfumed Garden came to mind. I didn't hesitate. The original Perfumed Garden stoked my lifelong love of music, and although I am no John Peel, like John I play the music I love without compromise. I have never changed that criteria nor will I. As a tribute to John I felt naming my show The Perfumed Garden was very apt, it felt right to me..
Today I host my show The Perfumed Garden and in someways continue the legacy of John Peel, at the same time establish my own identity by virtue of my playlists and my chat. To date The Perfumed Garden in it's new phase has a big and growing and very loyal audience.
It's early days in the life of The Perfumed Garden in it's new form..it's my wish and hope it will be around for some years to come.> MikeW