Former Glusburn man Simon Beaufoy has won a British “Oscar” for writing hit movie Slumdog Millionaire.

The film picked up seven prizes at the British Academy Film Awards in London.

As well as Best Adapted Screenplay it won awards for best film, director, cinematography, music, editing and sound. Picking up his Bafta, on Sunday, former Malsis School student Simon said the award was a great privilege. He said he had two pretend Baftas at home — a plastic replica and one made of chocolate.

Simon, 41, said the entire cast had been genuinely thrilled at people’s reaction to the film, which tells of a boy from the slums of Mumbai, India, who wins TV’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

The film has already won four Golden Globe awards, including a screenplay award for Simon. It has also received ten nominations for the Oscars, with the ceremony due to be held in Hollywood, on February 22.

Simon, whose parents live in Glusburn, first achieved fame as writer of the hit film comedy The Full Monty. His subsequent films include Blow Dry — set during a Keighley hairdressing competition — and Yasmin, which was filmed in Keighley.