ARISE, Sir Nick. Nick Faldo, 51, the one-time carpet fitter who rose to become the No 1 golfer in the world, has been knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
As well as claiming six majors, starting with the 1987 Open at Muirfield and finishing with the 1996 US Masters at Augusta, and spending 98 weeks as the world's top-ranked golfer, Faldo is the youngest player to qualify for the Ryder Cup and the most successful player in the competition's history.
His 31-year association with the Ryder Cup culminated last year in his characteristically controversial captaincy of the European side at the Valhalla course in Kentucky.
He has risen from the ashes of that defeat and the never knowingly modest Faldo said: "I am more than a little humbled to have been afforded this great honour.
"It has come as a real surprise and the reaction from my children, family and friends has made this a very special moment for me." He becomes only the second golfer to be knighted. The first was Henry Cotton, who also won three Opens, and Faldo said: "To stand alongside such esteemed company is incredible".The English golfer heads a list of sports stars and administrators that includes England women's cricket captain Charlotte Edwards and former rugby international and commentator Alastair Hignell.
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Edwards, who is awarded an MBE for services to cricket, showed her male counterpart Andrew Strauss how it is done by captaining England to Ashes glory in 2008 and, earlier this year, she guided her side to World Cup success in Australia.
"It's been a really special eighteen months for myself and the team and this has really topped it off," said the 29-year-old, who was the youngest player to represent England when she made her debut in 1996 aged just 16.
She provided perfect proof of the adage that if you're good enough, you're old enough when, the day before her 18th birthday, she scored a then-record ODI score of 173 not out in a World Cup match against Ireland.
Edwards added: "It has been given to me for services to cricket for a number of years and I'm obviously chuffed. I was surprised but very proud when I found out and now I'm just looking forward to trying to make it another memorable year."
The Cambridgeshire-born opening bat can start today by leading the tournament favourites to victory against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the Women's World Twenty20 Pool B encounter.
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Hignell, 53, well known to BBC listeners as a rugby commentator on Radio Five Live, is awarded a CBE for his services to rugby broadcasting and for his work raising funds and awareness for multiple sclerosis.
Hignell, who turned to journalism after a dual-sport career that included 170 first-class cricket matches for Gloucestershire and 14 appearances for the England rugby side at full-back, was diagnosed with the incurable neurological condition in 1999 and is now patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre. "I received a letter about a month ago," he said. "It's been extraordinary, absolutely fantastic to be so honoured. I've been so overwhelmed and gobsmacked by the reaction of people in sport and now this.
"It's been very humbling and absolutely wonderful to be recognised in this way, not just for the sport but also for the charity."
His final commentary was the 2008 Guinness Premiership Final at Twickenham. Wasps beat Leicester and their captain Lawrence Dallaglio dedicated the victory to Hignell.
Joining Hignell as a CBE are Brian Lomax, chairman of Supporters Direct, which works to give fans more say in the running of professional football, Peter King, who turned a bankrupt British Cycling team into gold-plated Olympians, and Michael Brace, the former chairman of the successful GB Paralympics squad. James Anderson, one of Brace's charges and the winner of six gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, is awarded an OBE for services to swimming.
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Graeme Hick, the former England batsman, joins fellow cricketer Edwards as an MBE. Hick, who played for Worcestershire for 24 years, retired last season as the most prolific run-scorer in all cricket with a tally of 136 first-class hundreds that places him eighth on the all-time list.
Another retired star, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist and 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Gail Emms, is awarded an MBE for services to Badminton.