Stephen Fry says he smokes six pipes a day when he is writing

He became the 39th recipient of the award at a ceremony at the Savoy Hotel in central London.

Fry, 45, said: "It is a singular and distinct honour and I'm entirely delighted.

"It makes me feel all grown up because pipes are very grown up."

'Towering inferno'

Past winners of the award from the Pipe Smokers' Council are Eric Morecambe, Sir Harold Wilson, JB Priestley and Tony Benn.

The award was created in 1963 to honour distinguished enthusiasts and raise cash for charity.

Fry said that discounting smoking tea in his father's pipe at the age of 14, he began smoking a pipe in earnest while teaching at Cundall Manor in North Yorkshire.

"The boys used to call me the 'towering inferno'," he said.