Tom Jones is knighted - and 'just can't believe it'

Mar 29, 2006, 18:08 GMT

London - Tom Jones, the Welsh miner's son whose raunchy hits made him a megastar, Wednesday crowned his 41-year show business career with a knighthood conferred by Queen Elizabeth II.

Emerging beaming as 'Sir Tom' from the ceremony at Buckingham Palace, the 65-year-old singer said: 'It is fantastic.'

It's not unusual for him to meet the monarch, as Sir Tom, known as The Tiger, was quick to point out: 'I've met her six or seven times, maybe more.'

The singer, who received the honour under his real name, Thomas Jones Woodward, was accompanied by his son, daughter and granddaughter at the ceremony.

'It was lovely to see the queen again. I love seeing the queen and I have always been a royalist. She is lovely and she still is lovely', he said.

The monarch, who will be 80 next month, remembered their first meeting at a Charity concert in 1966, Sir Tom revealed.

'She said to me that I had given a lot of people a lot of pleasure', said Sir Tom, best-known for hits as 'It's Not Unusual', 'Delilah', 'What's New, Pussycat?' and 'Green, Green Grass Of Home.'

Sir Tom is due to have a new dance record out next month and is touring Britain later in the year.

'As time goes on, it just gets better. This is the best thing that I have had. It is a wonderful feeling, a heady feeling. Sometimes you just can't believe it, you think you have been dreaming.'