Sir Ian Botham collected his knighthood from the Queen today, describing it as a "mind blowing" day he would never forget.

The 51-year-old former England cricket all-rounder remarked: "I've had some great moments in sport and other walks of life but nothing matches this. It was mind blowing, magnificent ... That today blows everything away."

The sports star, nicknamed Beefy, finished his career as England's leading Test wicket-taker with 383 victims and over 5,000 Test runs. He has also raised millions of pounds for Leukaemia Research, embarking on a host of long-distance charity walks including from John O'Groats to Land's End.

"It's not just for myself but for my family and for the leukaemia people who give their time to work for me," he said of his award. "It's just a very special day and one that I will never forget."

After receiving his honour at Buckingham Palace, he added: "The Queen does like her cricket, but we just talked about the Leukaemia Research Fund.

"I explained the in-roads we had made in terms of research. There used to be a 20 per cent chance of survival, now it's 80 per cent."

After the ceremony, Botham posed for photographs in the quadrangle with the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeoman of the Guard, otherwise known as Beefeaters.

Asked if he has been addressed as Sir Beefy yet, he added: "No I haven't, but I have been called Sir Loin of Beef."

Looking back over his cricketing career, he said: "The highlight has to be any time we beat Australia particularly when we beat them in Australia, but today puts that all into insignificance when you get an achievement like this."

He then tipped England to beat France in their Rugby World Cup clash this weekend, saying of their triumph over Australia: "It was amazing, tremendous."

He added: "I always back the English against the French. They've got past the worst of it beating Australia. It's given them a chance."

Sir Ian's connection to leukaemia began when he took a wrong turn in a Taunton hospital back in 1977 while he was recovering from an operation on his foot and ended up in a ward full of terminally-ill children.

The England star also played for Somerset, Worcestershire, Durham and Queensland. In December 2004, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.

Born in Cheshire, Sir Ian was brought up in Somerset. He played his first Test in Nottingham in July 1977, bowling Australian Greg Chappell for his first wicket and taking five in the innings.

Sir Ian was joined by his wife Kathy and grandchildren Regan, 13, and nine-year-old James. The family are celebrating today with a special reception at Lord's.

He is planning a new charity walk next October when he will make his way around up to 18 UK cities.