Hoffman Heralded

He may not beat a Hobbit in the height department but Dustin Hoffman received a giant-sized reception when he received an Empire Lifetime Achievement Award last night and insisted not only on taking the stage for a good half hour or so but ensured the evening's winners also joined him on the podium. Full of praise for the event, Hoffman sparked off his characteristically tenacious grasp on the audience's attention by commenting, "You guys have created quite an evening" before admitting he had been slightly confused at first when he heard about his gong. "I thought when they said it was the Empire awards, it was the British Empire giving them. So I wrote a speech, I worked on it and then I realised it was a magazine." But any perplexity was quickly dismissed when he arrived at the shebang and rather bizarrely struck up an instant rapport with funny man of the moment Johnny Vegas