The 62-year-old, who now confines his musical appearances to occasional club dates, says he has not looked back since he quit the veteran group in 1991.

"I left the Stones because their music really annoyed me, so why should I go listen to their music?" Wyman told the German newspaper Bild.

"When you're a Rolling Stone, you do nothing but Stones music. My life is more exciting since I'm not one," he said.

Wyman did not confine his criticism to his own former colleagues - he also slated two of Britain's newest success as well.

He said: "Oasis bother me even more than the Rolling Stones." As for the Spice Girls: "I like talent, so I don't like them."

The Artist Formerly Known As Prince "was the last to really impress me in the early 80s. But he's really gone downhill since," he said.

One down, two to go for Lucas

First of three Star Wars prequels hits cinemas in May

George Lucas has finished filming and editing The Phantom Menace, the first in the trilogy of 'prequels' to Star Wars, and is starting production work on the second in the series, which he will start filming in Australia in April 2000.

While keeping details of the scripts a close secret, the film-maker has revealed that the next films will contain more digitally-created characters.

"One of the biggest problems I've had in the past is that most of the characters had to be made out of latex," Lucas said. "It's very hard to direct around a large rubber thing that can't move very well. Now I've got digital characters which can actually walk and talk with live action characters and do a performance."

The film features Ewan McGregor as the young Obi Wan-Kenobi and is scheduled for a limited release from May 1999.

The next two films in the saga each have a £75 million budget and will be filmed mainly in Australia.

Spice Girls get set for Christmas

Mel B: "It's about the end of things"

The Spice Girls' new single Goodbye, a hot favourite to be the Christmas number one, was played for the first time on British radio on Monday.

The words seem to be a friendly farewell to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell - although she has said she is no longer on speaking terms with the group.

The Spice Girls are bidding for three seasonal chart-toppers in a row.

They hit the Christmas number one in 1996 with 2 Become 1, and again last year with Too Much.

Goodbye's chorus goes: "Goodbye my friend. I know you're gone, you said you're gone, but I can still feel you here. It's not the end."

Scary Spice Mel B said: "It's about a lot of things, the end of relationships and stuff."

Horrocks not high on Hollywood

Jane Horrocks: No hooray for Hollywood

Rising star Jane Horrocks may be about to become a big name thanks to her new film Little Voice, but she is not impressed with the idea of making films in Hollywood.

"A lot of people who come here go off the rails," she said.

"British actors have been picked up by Hollywood and put in films they're not right for. When you get a very British accent surrounded by Americans, it's weird."

Horrocks, who is four months pregnant with her second child, said she auditioned for director Barry Levinson for a role in his movie Toys.

She recalled: "It was set in the outback of America so I read it in an American accent but he wanted me to do it in my own voice,"

"I said: `Well, why? Why would a girl from Lancashire be here? I don't believe it. Sorry."'

DreamWorks facing copyright suit

Steven Spielberg: Facing case over his company's name

Steven Spielberg is being sued for $25m by a film-maker claiming the Oscar-winning director has stolen his firm's trademarked name.

Jonathan Harris owns an entertainment company called Dreamwerks, which he formed in 1992.

He has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to force Spielberg and his partners David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg to change the name of their DreamWorks studio.

Harris is also demanding all their headed notepaper, envelopes and every scrap of paper with the DreamWorks logo on it, in addition to the damages.

Shane comes back

Shane, the classic Western starring Alan Ladd as a world-weary gunfighter helping homesteaders defend their land, is to become a Broadway musical.

Grammy award-winning writer and singer Mary Chapin Carpenter has been signed to write the music and lyrics and it is expected to hit the stage in the spring of 2000.

Shane is the second film directed by George Stevens to be adapted for Broadway, following Swing Time, which will make its way to the stage late next year.

Mabius next in line to play The Crow

Eric Mabius will be the next actor to take on the role of The Crow, in the third instalment of the gothic drama series, which is now in development.

Mabius, who last appeared in Welcome to the Dollhouse, follows the late Brandon Lee - who starred in the original Crow in 1994 - and Vincent Perez, who had the role in the 1996 sequel The Crow: City of Angels.