Arise to see you… to see you arise

Sir Bruce Forsyth has described his joy at being knighted by the Queen and vowed to keep on entertaining the country.

The veteran performer received the honour at Buckingham Palace yesterday after years of campaigning by fans.

Strictly Come Dancing host Sir Bruce was championed by a Facebook campaign and even a parliamentary Early Day Motion, signed by 73 MPs, before the accolade was announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

The 83-year-old entertainer looked ecstatic after the ceremony and said: “It’s absolutely wonderful to get the knighthood.

“It’s a thing that’s been going on for a long time but it’s not often one can say the press has been right behind you in my business – but they have been.

“Entertaining – it’s been the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do and I’ve done it for many, many years. Who feels like quitting? I want to go on.”

Earlier the television star and knelt on a velvet stool to receive the honour.

The Queen lightly touched him on the shoulder with a sword that belonged to her father, George VI. The king used the ceremonial weapon when he was colonel of the Scots Guards while Duke of York, before assuming the throne.

As he emerged from the ballroom, Sir Bruce called out “Good luck” to recipients on their way to receive their awards.

One joked: “We were impressed to see you get off your knees” and the entertainer replied: “That was an effort, I can tell you.” Sir Bruce was watched by his Puerto Rican-born wife Wilnelia, a former Miss World, their 24-year-old son Jonathan Joseph, and his daughters from previous marriages Charlotte, 34, and Laura, 48.

Sir Bruce’s career has spanned almost 70 years – 53 of those in television – and has seen him become one of the country’s leading light entertainers.

He has presented popular TV shows The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right and, most recently, Strictly Come Dancing, and each show is marked by one of his trademark catchphrases, notably “Nice to see you, to see you nice”.

During the ceremony the television star shared a few words with the Queen.

Sir Bruce said: “She said thank you for entertaining the country for such a long time

“But she was most intrigued about how long I’d been in showbusiness. I think she was a bit shocked when I said (almost) 70 years. She was asking how old I was when I started and I told her 14, during the war, when you could leave school at 14 and go and work helping the war effort.

“I went on the stage and was travelling up and down the country during the Blitz travelling on trains and sleeping in the luggage racks.”

Speaking about the knighthood, he added: “It’s the top of the tree, I don’t think I can go anywhere from here. I certainly won’t be a lord, maybe lord love a duck.”

Asked about his enduring appeal to the British public, he said: “I think the secret of my success is I’ve always done family shows. Strictly is a family show, it caters for the young right through to the very old.

“Every decade children have grown up with me from when I was 30 years of age, having done the family shows it’s kept my popularity going.”

Glasgow-based children’s author and playwright Julia Donaldson – best known for her book The Gruffalo – received an MBE. She has written more than 120 books including The Snail And The Whale and teenage novel Running On The Cracks.