IT was the song that epitomised his career - and now its famous lyrics will be etched forever on his headstone. The late DJ John Peel championed the Undertones' Teenage Kicks on his show and apparently often used to say he would like the words “teenage dreams so hard to beat” on his gravestone.

IT was the song that epitomised his career - and now its famous lyrics will be etched forever on his headstone.

The late DJ John Peel championed the Undertones' Teenage Kicks on his show and apparently often used to say he would like the words “teenage dreams so hard to beat” on his gravestone.

Today the lyrics and Liverpool FC's emblem the Liver Bird, adorn f his newly erected gravestone.

His widow, Shelia Ravenscroft, said: “It is what he always wanted.

“He said it so many times on television, radio and in the press that this was what he wanted on his headstone.

“We carried out his wishes. The song meant a lot to him and that particular line was something he carried out throughout his work.”

Peel, a unique voice in British broadcasting, was Radio 1's longest serving DJ when he died aged 65 in October 2004 from a heart attack, while on a working holiday in the resort of Cuzco, Peru, with his wife Sheila.

The DJ is buried in St Andrew's church in the picturesque village of Great Finborough, near Stowmarket, where he lived for 33 years in the peaceful community surrounded by fields.

John Matthissen, a Great Finborough parish and local district councillor who has lived in the village for years, knew Peel.

He said: “John was so well thought of in the community, he was very well loved locally, and it is lovely that Sheila has done this for him.”

Peel received an OBE in 1998 and earned a place in the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.

He had been married to Sheila for 30 years and had four children William, Alexandra, Tom, and Florence.