Stewart receives lifetime honour

29 April 2011 Last updated at 14:18 Rod Stewart has had six UK number one singles Rod Stewart has been honoured with a lifetime achievement from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in Los Angeles.

He recalled, during the ceremony, his first failed songwriting attempt with former Faces band mate Ronnie Wood.

He added Wood's mother had said: "I don't think the Beatles have got anything to worry about."

Stewart went on to write a number of hits, including Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, You're in my Heart and Young Turks.

Although the seven albums he has released since 2001 have just featured covers of other people's songs, the singer said the ASCAP honour would "maybe give me a push up the bum to start writing again".

The 66-year-old is currently working on a blues album with Jeff Beck, covering such tunes as Muddy Waters' Rollin' and Tumblin.

Also at the ceremony, two of the year's most prolific hit makers, Lukasz "Dr Luke" Gottwald and Max Martin, were named songwriters of the year.

The duo penned five of the most performed songs of 2010 together, including Katy Perry's California Gurls and Teenage Dream, as well as Taio Cruz's Dynamite.

It is the fourth time Swedish songwriter-producer Martin - who has had 20 number one songs in the past five years - has received the honour.

Train front man Pat Monahan won song of the year for Hey, Soul Sister, while EMI Music Publishing was named publisher of the year.

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Vienna to honour WWII deserters

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Palme d'Or honour for Bertolucci

11 April 2011 Last updated at 15:43 GMT Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor won nine Academy Awards in 1988 An honorary Palme d'Or award is to be presented at the Cannes Film Festival's opening ceremony from this year onwards, organisers have announced.

The inaugural award will go to director Bernardo Bertolucci, of Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor fame.

President Gilles Jacob said the quality of the Italian's work made him "the first legitimate recipient".

The award has previously been presented on an ad hoc basis to directors such as Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood.

Festival organisers said the award would go each year to "an important film-maker whose work is authoritative" but who had never won Cannes' top award, the Palme d'Or.

Bertolucci, they continued, had directed "intimate Italian cinema masterpieces as monumental frescoes".

"His political and social involvement, driven by a profound lyricism and an elegant and accurate direction, gives his films a unique place in the history of world cinema," the statement went on.

The 71-year-old's films - which include The Conformist, The Sheltering Sky and Before the Revolution - are currently being celebrated at the BFI Southbank in London.

Mr Jacob praised the "uniqueness" of Bertolucci's films and "the strength of his commitment to cinema".

This year's festival will begin on 11 May with a screening of Allen's latest film, Midnight in Paris.

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