Gere wins gobbledygook award by a long neck

Richard Gere has been named as the winner of the 2002 Foot-in-Mouth prize from the Plain English Campaign for appearing to insist that he was a giraffe.

The 43-year-old ethical thespian was given the award for this remark to a Sunday newspaper earlier this year: "I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe and somebody said I was a snake, I'd think 'No, actually I am a giraffe'."

Gere joins previous winners of the award for "outrageous gobbledygook"such as Gordon Brown, Glenn Hoddle and Tracey Emin.

Organisers said the actor was not available to collect his gong at a special ceremony in central London today.

Defenders of Gere, a Buddhist human rights campaigner whose starring roles have included An Officer and a Gentleman and Pretty Woman, insisted his remark, once analysed, made perfect sense.

But John Lister, spokesman for the Plain English Campaign, said: "It is a phrase that only makes sense when you have stared at it for a long time. It was simply the most baffling celebrity quote of the year."

It is understood that Gere only narrowly beat the two other front-runners for the award, George Bush and John Prescott.