Spielberg is village's first 'movieologist'

Steven Spielberg, the emperor of Hollywood and winner of a fistful of Oscars, has secured a glittering new trophy from an unexpected quarter - the prestigious post of "movieologist to the Court Leet of Barton St Mary" in the Cotswolds.

Steven Spielberg, the emperor of Hollywood and winner of a fistful of Oscars, has secured a glittering new trophy from an unexpected quarter - the prestigious post of "movieologist to the Court Leet of Barton St Mary" in the Cotswolds.

The honour, which is unprecedented in the Court Leet's nine century history, was bestowed when Mr Spielberg became a patron to Barton's New Olympic theatre, home of the Gloucestershire Operatic and Dramatic Society (amateur).

So happy are Barton citizens with his decision to help save the theatre that they have also appointed Mr Spielberg their ambassador to Hollywood.

Alan Myett, the mayor, confirmed yesterday that Mr Spielberg has also donated eight posters of Chicken Run to the New Olympus theatre to help raise £100,000. Mr Myett is about to invite Mr Spielberg to Barton, a borough of Gloucester, to receive his movieologist regalia, "which features a braying donkey, a goose, a fool's cap with bells, Bacchus the lord of wine and three tudor roses".

The images are taken from Barton's coat of arms, which were granted after the Civil War. Mr Spielberg will also be informed of the Barton motto, which translates from the Latin as "It is pleasant to jest and revel at the appropriate time."