FOAL, TRAIN AND ALMOST A TWYCROSS ZOO ANTELOPE NAMED AFTER UK'S MOST FAMOUS CENTENARIAN

GREETINGS sent by police and frontline carers from Atherstone are among 140,000 birthday wishes to the most famous centenarian to come out of the coronavirus crisis.

A month ago no one had heard of World War Two veteran Captain Tom Moore outside of his village of Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire.

Then on April 16 he completed 100-laps of his back garden for the NHS.

The initial target of raising £1,000 was dwarfed by the response of the nation desperate for good news in the pandemic. That figure now stands at more than £30 million.

Today Captain Moore – now an honorary colonel – turns 100 and is a national treasure.

He has had a foal at the World Horse Welfare's Hall Farm Rescue in Thetford named after him, a Great Western Railway intercity express train has gone into service carrying his name plus a GB Railfreight locomotive, he's been made an honorary England cricketer, had a spcial postbox unveiled near his home, and his landmark birthday has been marked with an RAF fly-past by a Spitfire and a Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

The veteran also became the oldest person to land a number one single with his cover of You'll Never Walk Alone, recorded alongside Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care choir.

Locally Atherstone and Coleshill Police sent him a birthday card "not to be opened until today" and nurses at Atherstone's main hospital – the George Eliot – made a special video and sent him a 'thank you' picture message to mark his incredible achievements.

And Captain Moore even gatecrashed a Facebook page poll hosted by Twycross Zoo to give a name to a new-born baby antelope.

The options originally on offer were 'George' after George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust in Nuneaton, 'Samuel' after the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital in Lichfield and 'Robert' after the Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in Mile Oak, Tamworth.

The zoo's social media followers decided to introduce the retired Army captain into the voting mix and it was close-run contest with Captain Moore finishing second to the eventual winner 'George' after the George Eliot.