“Teenage dreams, so hard to beat”
It’s strange but when I read the news article, I had to smile.
He – his voice and his presence – is still missed; by his family and friends, of course, but also by millions of his fans, old and young.
John Peel was truly a remarkable man.
He’s been dead for three years, so it’s time that his gravestone went up. I’m reasonably sure the delay would have brought a wry smile to his face as well. He was very good at doing wry.
Anyway, here’s that article:
John Peel’s gravestone has been erected three years after his death, bearing a lyric from his favourite song. Peel was Radio 1’s longest serving DJ when he died aged 65 in October 2004, famously championing The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks on his show.
He often said he would like the song’s line “Teenage dreams, so hard to beat” on his tombstone. Lead singer Feargal Sharkey called it “flattering”. The DJ is buried in Great Finborough, Suffolk, where he lived for 33 years.
Peel’s widow, Sheila Ravenscroft, said: “We have put the words on the stone that he would’ve wanted. I wouldn’t dare do anything else!”
Peel’s second love was Liverpool FC and its emblem, the Liver Bird, adorns the top of his gravestone.
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