‘Beefy’ as he is otherwise known is widely considered England’s best-ever player – and he enjoyed a stellar Test career – scoring 5,200 runs (14 hundreds), taking 383 wickets and claiming 120 catches, with most of them coming at slip.

James Anderson surpassed his wicket-taking haul in April 2015 and the two embraced together in Antigua after the swing bowler eclipsed the record.

Botham is probably most famous for his starring role in England’s victorious 1981 Ashes series triumph over Australia.

Since retiring from the sport in the early 1990s, Botham has enjoyed a successful media career with Sky Sports.

And, did you know that Beefy also used to be a professional footballer, turning out for Scunthorpe United before his cricketing career.

Here are the other sporting figures who are celebrating:

1936: Dave Whelan – Wigan’s owner and former chairman (80).
1958: Roy Aitken – former Chelsea, Celtic, Motherwell and Scotland defender (58).
1965: Tom Boyd – former Celtic and Scotland defender (51).
1982: Sean O’Loughlin – Wigan and England rugby league captain (34).
1983: Dean Ashton – former Crewe, Norwich and West Ham striker who won one England cap and retired through injury in 2009 (33).
1987: Jeremain Lens – Sunderland’s Holland international striker, currently on loan at Fenerbahce (29).
1994: Nabil Bentaleb – Tottenham and Algeria midfielder, currently on loan at Schalke (22).