Jeremy Irons, Rowan Atkinson, Joan Collins and Louise Lombard are among the celebrities expected at the ceremony at the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo.

Films from countries across Europe including Ireland, Russia, Spain and Sweden are vying for awards. British films in the running include Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe, for best film and best actor, and Sliding Doors, for Peter Howitt's screenplay.

Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy, from Ireland, is also up for best European film and best cinematography.

The European Achievement in World Cinema category is between Antonio Banderas for The Mask Of Zorro, Pierce Brosnan for Tomorrow Never Dies, Gerard Depardieu for The Man With The Iron Mask, Sweden's Stellan Skarsgard for Amistad, Emma Thompson for Primary Colors and Kate Winslet for Titanic.

Sylvester Stallone: Miami too violent

Movie tough guy Sylvester Stallone has left his Miami home because he is worried about crime, according to newspaper reports.

The Miami Herald said three 18-wheeler trucks drove up to the actor's mansion in Coconut Grove to move his furniture, statues, paintings and gym equipment.

Neighbour Tory Jacobs told the newspaper that the actor had said he was leaving because "the area wasn't safe for his family".

Stallone is currently staying in a hotel in California, and plans to sell his Miami home for $25m.

Football team finds recipe for success

Delia Smith 'like a mother hen'

An under-12s soccer team have signed a sponsorship deal with celebrity chef Delia Smith.

Ms Smith signed up the hard-up Sunday league side with her publisher husband Michael Wynn Jones after an appeal from one of his employees.

The club changed its name to New Crane Junior Football Club - after Mr Wynn Jones' firm - and adopted Norwich City's colours of yellow and green as a tribute to Smith, a director of the Division One side.

The club is grateful for the couple's generosity. The club secretary Tom Young said: "Delia's like a mother hen. When they came up the other week to watch a match the mothers were a bit overawed and there were lots of requests for photographs, but she didn't get at all flustered."

Lumley makes blood appeal

Joanna Lumley gives blood for Christmas

Donating blood is the best gift anyone can give this Christmas, says Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley.

She made the appeal on behalf of the National Blood Service, whose supplies are usually very low over the Christmas period.

The actress issued the plea at Hamley's toy store in London's Regent Street where she was joined by the Matthew Slopecki, aged 23 months.

Matthew, of Brentwood, Essex, was admitted to hospital days before last Christmas when his circulation collapsed and was given 12 hours to live by doctors. A blood transfusion helped to save his life.

"The only side effect of giving blood is allowing someone like wonderful Matthew to stay alive. That's the best gift you can give," said Miss Lumley.

Actor tells of life after marriage

Actor Peter Davison, who starred in All Creatures Great And Small and later made his name as Dr Who, has spoken of his split from wife Sandra Dickinson.

He revealed how six years ago he was living in an eight-bedroom, riverside house in Berkshire with the American actress - and was close to despair.

Now, he told the Daily Mail, he is divorced and lives in a one-bedroom flat in London's Belsize Park, in debt and with few possessions.

The 47-year-old actor said: "It came to a point where living in a one-bedroom flat was better than living unhappily in blissful surroundings. We were staying together for all the wrong reasons."

Two years ago, he began a new relationship with actress Elizabeth Morton: "We haven't really talked about the immediate future. I wouldn't marry again for my own benefit ... I'm a bit anti-marriage," he said.