IT WAS DJ John Peel's favourite city and now the people of Liverpool have honoured the much-loved star by naming a train after him.

IT WAS DJ John Peel's favourite city and now the people of Liverpool have honoured the much-loved star by naming a train after him.

His widow, Sheila Ravenscroft said at the unveiling of the engine that her late husband would have been"very emotional" and "honoured' at the move.

Peel, who lived near Stowmarket has a string of other objects named after him including a tulip in Liverpool red and also a train in the Cotswolds.

Mrs Ravencroft joined staff from transport authority Merseytravel at the city's South Parkway interchange to take a trip on the engine yesterday.

She said: “To have an engine named after you in Liverpool, his favourite city, is just an honour beyond his dreams. It is really, really exciting.

"I'm actually really honoured to be asked to come here today because John would have been truly thrilled and very, very emotional. He was a man who did get emotional about things.

"He was born in Heswall. He worked in Liverpool when he left school. Even when he was in the Army right down in Anglesey he used to get on his little motorbike and come up all the time for the matches. He talked about it a lot.”

Ian Prowse, from the band Amsterdam, performed the song Does This Train Stop On Merseyside? before Mrs Ravenscroft unveiled a plaque with John Peel's name on it.

Copies of a new book called The Olivetti Chronicles, a collection of John's writings during his career edited by his wife Sheila, were also given to some of the passengers on the train during the journey.

John Peel, was born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft in Heswall, Wirral, in August 1939.

He died in October 2004 aged 65 after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Cuzco, Peru.