THE British Library last night confirmed it would be interested in owning the records of late Radio One DJ John Peel.Following his death two years ago there has been speculation within the music industry as to what would happen to the collection - thought to contain around 25,000 vinyl albums and thousands of singles and CDs.

THE British Library last night confirmed it would be interested in owning the records of late Radio One DJ John Peel.

Following his death two years ago there has been speculation within the music industry as to what would happen to the collection - thought to contain around 25,000 vinyl albums and thousands of singles and CDs.

But at the weekend it emerged that Mr Peel, who lived at Great Finborough, left the collection to his wife, Sheila.

A spokesperson for the British Library confirmed they would be interested in taking the collection but said no formal discussions had taken place with the family.

She said: “The British Library would be interested in the collection which has been left to his family.

“The family have yet to decide what they intend to do but they are aware of our interest if they decide to dispose of the collection.”

The library's sound archive holds what it describes as “one of the most wide-ranging collections of popular music in the world”.

Mr Peel, a father-of-four who died of a heart attack during a trip to Peru, left more than £1.5million to his family in his will, details of which have just been published.

On Sunday 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.”