Bernard Cribbins collects his OBE

Bernard Cribbins was presented with his OBE by Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, in a ceremony at Windsor Castle on Thursday, 3 November.

The 82-year-old actor said: “It was lovely. We had a wee chat, we were rambling on, and then she said ‘We mustn’t gossip’ and sort of looked at her watch, and that was it.”

The award for his services to drama was announced in June in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

After the ceremony, Bernard talked to the press about his memories of narrating the Wombles TV series.

“It was lovely,” he said. “I enjoyed it enormously. It was great fun, but the reaction since is what is enjoyable with different age groups.

“I can almost identify people’s ages just by what they are saying. It was a very nice episode in my career.”

He added that providing the voices of the different characters was simple because of how The Wombles was written. “The structure of the writing was such that you knew exactly where everybody was socially in that household,” he said.

His latest project is to play the part of undertaker Mr Sowerberry in Oliver Twist for a radio play. He has no intention of retiring, and joked: “If you know of any work that’s going, I’ll take it. I love it, I can’t stop - why should I? I’m still able to read and write.”

You can watch Bernard Cribbins collecting his OBE on the BBC News website.