A new stage in the discovery of one of the most revered music collections on Earth has began.

Some of the eclectic and vast number of LPs, CDs and tapes in John Peel’s possession were first included in an online archive two years ago.

But now a new project is delving deeper to find some of the hidden treasures from the late BBC broadcaster’s records.

Six music professionals have been given unprecedented access to the collection – with the first being Pink Floyd producer Joe Boyd.

He said: “Once, I started looking though the shelves I kept on stumbling upon things, ‘Oh god he’s got this’, ‘Oh! I remember that…’.”

“John’s record collection has always been a golden mountain in the distance so it’s an honour to finally be here.”

Six record boxes containing the music picked by the group of producers and artists will be released over the next year.

The project is led by the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts in Stowmarket. It has been funded by the Peel centre and The Space.

Go to www.thespace.org for more information.

Peel lived in nearby Great Finborough, near Stowmarket, until his death in 2004.

The former Radio 1 DJ’s collection contains over 26,000 LPs, over 80,000 singles and many thousands of CDs and demo tapes.