Tony Hancock famously wanted a badge for giving blood - but Alan Colgate has done the real thing and won an award for giving blood for 38 years.
Mr Colgate, 63, of Lucastes Road, in Haywards Heath, has made more than 75 donations since he became a blood donor in 1963.
At about a pint a time he has donated almost ten times the amount of blood in his body.
The National Blood Transfusion Service recognised Mr Colgate along with other long serving donors at a ceremony in London.
Mr Colgate, whose own blood group is not that rare, said: "The fact that you are not a rare one means there must be more people needing that type of blood.
"This is the one thing you can't say 'Oh well the state could do it'.
"Unless people are prepared to go ahead and do it, people could not recover from operations that need blood."
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