A former Surbiton schoolboy whose photos have been shown around the world has been immortalised in a reworking of a classic album cover.

Photographer Martin Parr said he was “pleasantly surprised” to be featured in a new piece of art work inspired by the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Born in Epsom, Mr Parr was a schoolboy at the old Surbiton Grammar School in the late 1960s, now the site of Holyfield School in Surbiton Hill Road.

He first found acclaim 20 years later with his bleak anthropological photography, which has featured in more than 80 exhibitions worldwide, before trying his hand at documentary film-making.

He first realised he was going to be featured when he received an email asking for his photo, but said he did not give it much thought until he saw the finished art work.

He said: “I got the email, showed my wife, thought about it for about three seconds, and then didn’t think about again.

“I saw the art and yes it is a huge compliment to be included but I am not getting too carried away – maybe if I had been in the original.”

The pop art update is the work of original artist Sir Peter Blake and also features Ripley-born rocker Eric Clapton, Weybridge artist Gavin Turk and Woking-born cookery expert Delia Smith.

Sir Blake selected people who have inspired his career over the past six decades to mark his 80th birthday celebrations.

He said: “I have chosen people I admire, great people and some who are dear friends.

“I had a very long list of people who I wanted to go in but could not fit everyone in. I think that shows how strong British culture and its legacy of the past six decades is.”

The Beatles album, among the best selling of all time, was originally released in 1967 and featured such icons as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Oscar Wilde.

The cardboard cut-outs seen in the original standing behind the Fab Four spanned the worlds of sport, literature, film and music among others.