It was great while it lasted: Jimmy Savile’s epitaph

It will also contain three photographs from his broadcasting career when it is unveiled later this year.

His friend, Leeds hairdresser Howard Silverman, said: “He always told me that he wanted ‘It was great while it lasted’ on his tombstone.

The life of the Leeds DJ was celebrated with a three-day funeral following his death at 85 last October. But friends said it was their idea, not his, to have his coffin lie in state at the Queen’s hotel in the city centre.

He had not extravaganza followed, which showed a mass outpouring of public grief. The huge gold-coloured steel coffin takes up three burial spaces at Woodlands Cemetery in Scarborough.

Sir Jimmy was buried in Scarborough at a 45 degree angle so he ‘could see the sea’.