Carlyle's degree of delight

Robert Carlyle expressed deilight at the honour

Film star Robert Carlyle has received an honorary degree in the city where he shot to fame as the psychotic character Begbie in Trainspotting.

The 41-year-old Glasgow-born actor was among a clutch of leading figures from the arts, architecture and business honoured by Napier University in Edinburgh.

Carlyle received an honorary Doctor of Arts Degree in recognition of his contribution to Scottish drama since he graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

When asked how he planned to celebrate the honour, Carlyle, who was accompanied by his wife Anastasia, said he planned to get drunk and was "incredibly chuffed" to receive the award.

The honours are from Napier University

He said: "I'm just proud that what I've done over the past 20 years has been recognised.

"I've not studied for anything, it's the gesture that I appreciate and it's a very, very nice thing."

Carlyle's major opening came when he played a serial killer in the ITV drama Cracker, which also starred fellow Scot Robbie Coltrane.

He then went on to success in a number of hit movies including Trainspotting, The Full Monty, for which he won a Bafta award for best actor, and the last Bond film, The World Is Not Enough.

Carlyle next appears in cinemas in Black And White, in which he plays a lawyer in 1950s Australia defending an Aborigine accused of rape.

The film also stars Kerry Fox and Charles Dance and is due for release in Britain next year.

'Labour of love'

He told reporters about his role in a film about 1930s Glaswegian flyweight Benny Lynch, which starts shooting next year.

He dubbed the film a "labour of love" and said: "Benny Lynch was Scotland's first world champion at anything, a wee man who came from the Gorbals and weighed 7st 10lb, became world champion and died at the age of 32."

He said: "It's a rags to riches to rags story and my father and grandfather went to see him, so it's something that runs in my family."

Also honoured were the chairman of the Scottish Arts Council and former head of BBC Radio Scotland James Boyle, architect Richard Murphy, businessman Brigadier Stanley Robertson and Lady Edith Rifkind.