Yorkshire writer's Slumdog Oscar

Beaufoy also enjoyed success with The Full Monty which was set in Sheffiled

West Yorkshire writer Simon Beaufoy has won an Oscar for his screenplay of the hit film Slumdog Millionaire.

The film swept the boards at Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles - clinching eight Oscars, including best film and best director.

Accepting his award for best adapted screenplay, Keighley-born Beaufoy said: "There are certain places in the universe you never imagine standing.

"For me it's the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium and here."

The son of two English teachers from Yorkshire, he said that receiving the award was "a tremendous honour".

Repressed English writers have to write love stories because they can't say what they really mean," he told the Academy.

Beaufoy began his film career directing a BBC documentary about a Scottish mountain rescue team, before turning to screenplays.

His first was about Yorkshire men who paint pylons, which led to him being approached to write another about unemployed Sheffield steelworkers who form a male striptease act.

The filmmakers' low-budget independent production, 1997's "The Full Monty," turned into a worldwide sensation, grossing about $257m.

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