Knighthood honour leaves Captain ‘Sir’ Tom ‘overawed’

Captain “Sir” Tom Moore said he was “overawed” to learn that he will be knighted after raising millions of pounds for the NHS by walking laps of his garden.

The Second World War veteran set out to raise £1,000 by walking 100 laps before his 100th birthday on April 30.

He completed the challenge ahead of time and his determination captured the public imagination.

Almost £33m had been donated to his JustGiving page before it closed on the evening of his birthday.

With Gift Aid, the total stands at almost £40m, the BBC reported.

Capt Tom told BBC Breakfast that his first reaction on receiving news of his knighthood was: “I thought: ‘This can’t be true.’

“I’ve always said: ‘This won’t happen’, and now it appears it actually has,” he said.

“But I certainly was never anticipating that that letter would arrive for me.

“I’m certainly delighted and I am

“I’ve always said this won’t happen, and now it appears it actually has. TOM MOORE

overawed by the fact that this has happened to me.”

He joked that he hopes the Queen is “not very heavy-handed with the sword as by then I might be rather a poor old weak soul”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Capt Tom “provided us all with a beacon of light through the fog of coronavirus”.

He recommended that he be exceptionally honoured by the Queen, who has approved the honour, Downing Street said.

An investiture ceremony will take place at a later date, and his official title will be Captain Sir Thomas Moore.

He said he walked the laps of his garden in the village of Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire “with pleasure and without any hardship because as it got on and on the funds got better and better and it just went on and on”.

He added: “It was totally amazing because not only was it in this country but seemed to go around the world.”