He has become the 39th recipient of the award which is voted for by The Pipe Smokers’ Council, to honour distinguished enthusiasts and raise cash for charity.

Fry said: "It is a singular and distinct honour and I’m entirely delighted. It makes me feel all grown up because pipes are very grown up. I am the most famous puffer in Britain - and you can take the ’er’ off that."

The 45-year-old who has just completed directing Bright Young Things, his adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies, revealed he first began puffing away not at tobacco but at tea.

He said: "I was about 14 and used to borrow my father’s pipe and smoke tea. I had read somewhere it gave you a buzz.

"I really started smoking properly before university while teaching at a prep school, Cundall Manor in North Yorkshire."


Stephen Fry fined £300 - 23/12/02
Stephen Fry has today been fined £300 after admitting speeding. 45-year-old Fry pleaded guilty in court to travelling at 99 mph on a dual carriageway near Cambridge in April.

Cambridge magistrates have endorsed his licence with five penalty points and order him to pay £35 costs. Fry said he was "relieved" to keep his driving licence after the hearing.

Fry who lives in West Hampstead had admitted speeding on the southbound A11 at Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, in April.

He was on his way to perform in the 50th anniversary edition of the radio comedy quiz "I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue" when he was stopped by police.

As the actor left court, he wished the bench "Happy Christmas".


Stephen Fry begins filming directorial debut - 07/11/02
West Hampstead thespian Stephen Fry has begun filming his directorial debut called Bright Young Things. The film has an all-star cast including, Stockard Channing, Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton and Harriet Walter.

The film will also feature cameos from the likes of Dan Aykroyd, Jim Broadbent, Simon Callow, Richard E Grant, Sir John Mills and Peter O’Toole.

The film is an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies and tells the story of a group of wild young London party people in the late 1920s.

Stephen Fry banned for speeding - Dec 14 2006
Actor and comedian Stephen Fry was given a six-month driving ban after being caught speeding.

The 49-year-old was captured by a speed camera doing 74mph in a 60mph zone in Weeting, Norfolk.

The QI presenter admitted the offence and was disqualified from driving for six months by King’s Lynn magistrates as he already had nine penalty points on his licence.

He did not attend the hearing because he is currently filming new movie Eichmann in Hungary.

In December 2002 he was fined by Cambridge magistrates after being caught driving his Saab 93 at 99mph on the A11 but escaped a ban.

At the time the star said: "All that I can do is say I’m very sorry for being such a fool to drive so fast. I’ll see if I can put a limiter on my car to stop me speeding like that again."

He attended Queens College in Cambridge, and was part of the now infamous Footlights with Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. He starred in over 30 plays during his time here, and left University with an honours degree in English.

He wrote his first play in 1980 (called Latin! or Tobacco and Boys) and it won the Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival in the same year. In 1984 he was asked to re-write Noel Gay’s musical ’Me and My Girl’ and it made Stephen a millionaire.