Finally, Tim from the Peel Tapes group has located and digitised the legendary first play of Billy Bragg by John Peel in June 1983.

The tape starts just after Peel has messed up by playing the track at 33rpm. He then struggles to re-cue the needle in classic style.
After the track finishes he admits "it was Billy Bragg that bought me a mushroom biryani earlier on this evening, this is corruption, this is savage corruption that needs to be exposed in the world of popular music"

Apocryphal no more!

From the book
Billy Bragg: Still Suitable For Miners (page 102) by Andrew Collins, the debut airplay of Billy Bragg on Peel's show accordingly 'happened through a delicious mixture of chance and ingenuity. Jeff Chegwin played in the Chappell football team, once a week after work in Hyde Park, and Billy occasionally lent them his good right foot. One Wednesday evening, they were all standing around post-match having cans of beer and listening to Radio 1 on somebody's car radio with the doors open when John Peel dropped in during David 'Kid' Jensen's show, saying he'd do anything for a mushroom biryani. Chegwin spotted a gold-plated plugging moment. He and Billy drove over to where Radio 1 broadcast from - Egton House in the shadow of Broadcasting House - and took a mushroom biryani they'd just bought on Oxford Street into reception. Peel was an old hand, well aware of plugger's bullshit, and accustomed to a steady stream of nutters in the lobby, but to his credit, he came down in person and gratefully accepted the vegetable biryani. Billy and Chegwin asked him to listen to their record in return. It's what's known as currying favour. All concerned tuned in later that night, and were rewarded for their quick thinking: Peel thanked Billy for the biryani, said he would've played the record anyway, and proceeded to spin 'The Milkman Of Human Kindness' at the wrong speed (it was cut at 45 rpm for better sound quality, and sounds a bit like a scary monster at 33).'

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