Movie legend Dustin Hoffman is putting his collection of 18th and 19th Century furniture up for sale at Christie’s in London.

The items will go under the hammer on March 27th at the South-West London auction house.

The star has not revealed why he is offloading his antiques, from his home in West London’s Kensington, at the auction. According to reports in British newspapers, Hoffman looks set to raise between £25,000-£40,000.

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe’s performance in London play Equus has been hailed by critics and co-stars alike after its first night.

The 17-year-old plays a tortured teenager in the Peter Shaffer-written play, a role that requires him to strip nude - and all agreed the young star has cast off the shackles of his most famous role, as J.K. Rowling’s boy wizard.

Hollywood A-lister Scarlett Johansson was a no-show at Oscar parties on Sunday after snubbing the event to visit Sri Lanka and India on a charity project.

The Lost In Translation star, 22, is spending 10 days in the South Asia region as part of a trip organised by international aid agency Oxfam.

Israel’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has been chosen. The tongue-in-cheek rap band Teapacks will represent the country in Helsinki with the track Push The Button.

The song, which scored a landslide victory, was chosen from four contenders, with a mix of public telephone and Internet voting as well as the votes of an internal Israeli jury.

The bosses of the Madame Tussaud’s waxwork museum in Las Vegas have been told to axe plans to honour porn star Ron Jeremy on his upcoming birthday.

The museum is housed in the Venetian, but officials at the hotel and casino are far from impressed by the idea Jeremy’s likeness is to be added to the wax celebrity exhibits.

US-born model Caprice Bourret has further blasted claims she was recently treated for drug addiction and depression in rehab, insisting she doesn’t even take painkillers.

Last week a British newspaper reported the blonde beauty had checked into London’s The Priory, when it emerged she was actually enjoying a skiing holiday with her boyfriend in South Africa.

The BBC’s popular sketch show Little Britain, starring comedian Matt Lucas, has become the subject of a fierce bidding war in Hollywood, with execs keen to snap up the big screen rights.

Last autumn, Lucas and his screen partner David Walliams spoke of their film plans, but since the success of fellow Jewish Brit Sacha Baron Cohen with Borat, producers are looking for the next big British smash. And they think Lucas and Walliams have it.

Lou Pearlman is being sued by a New York City dentist who claims the boy band impresario failed to repay him over $1 million.

Pearlman created such groups as the Backstreet Boys and ’N Sync and has been the subject of a series of recent lawsuits.

And now Manhattan dentist Steven Sarin claims Pearlman refused to return investments he made in his company, as well as money his brother and his parents invested in the business.

Canadian director David Cronenberg is bringing his 1986 movie The Fly to the opera - he’s adapting the sci-fi drama for the stage.

The A History Of Violence film-maker is reuniting with his costume designer sister Denise and composer Howard Shore, who both worked on the Jeff Goldblum-starring movie which was financed by The Producers Mel Brooks.

Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash is writing his autobiography.

The 41-year-old has signed a deal with publishing house HarperCollins, and the manuscript for his memoirs are expected to be completed this autumn.

The wildman rocker who quit Guns N’ Roses in 1996 currently plays in Velvet Revolver was born in London.

The book should reveal further details of his cultural background following much ongoing speculation that Slash has a Jewish connection via his father.

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is being sued by a woman who claims he called her a “bitch” and a “minger” while performing as his Ali G character.

Baron Cohen stands accused of defaming the woman on TV programme Da Ali G Show during a 2004 interview with writer Gore Vidal, during which he allegedly said, “Me used to go out with this bitch called Heddi Cundle.”

Alan Arkin made it a weekend to remember at the Oscars last night when he followed up his Independent Spirit Award win with an Academy Award.

Many experts thought Arkin would lose to Oscars favourite Eddie Murphy in the Best Supporting Actor category, but his role as a curmudgeon in Little Miss Sunshine gave him the edge over the competition at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

Former S Club 7 singer Rachel Stevens is emerging as one of the favourites to represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki.

Stevens, who has had mixed success with a solo career since S Club 7 disbanded, is hoping the British public will support her to be the voice and face of the United Kingdom at the 2007 contest.

Israeli band Teapacks are to represent the country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki.

The band, who have found fame in their home country for combining traditional sounds with laid-back rap and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, were chosen by an internal panel of judges.

The song which they will take to the contest will be chosen from four contenders on February 27.

Brit award winner Amy Winehouse has vowed to clean up her act - on her boyfriend’s mother’s orders.

The jazz songstress, whose drunken antics have earned her an unsavoury reputation, insists she does not have an alcohol problem but is willing to sort herself out for the sake of her partner Alex - and his embarrassed mum.

Having nabbed an Oscar nomination for his film The Queen, director Stephen Frears may be about to meet the monarch for real.

The filmmaker is said to have been invited for tea at Buckingham Palace later this month, along with actress Helen Mirren, who is tipped to win an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II, and screenwriter Peter Morgan, who is also Oscar nominated for the film.

Lost co-creator and Mission Impossible: III director JJ Abrams is in talks to acquire the rights to horror writer Stephen King’s novel The Dark Tower.

King has been keen to keep the project away from Hollywood hands but the writer is reportedly a huge fan of Abrams’ desert island drama - and is thrilled about working with the director.

Hit musical The Producers will end its Broadway run after six years and more than 2,500 performances in April.

The show, which is based on Mel Brooks’ 1968 film about two producers who scam old ladies out of money to put on a flop Broadway show, has been a massive stage success - winning 12 Tony awards during its run.

“The last six years working on this show have been pure joy for me,” says Brooks.

Sir Alan Sugar’s hit show The Apprentice is about to get the musical treatment, from the people who brought you Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Kombat Opera Presents is bringing their take on six TV shows to the small screen – beginning with their version of The Apprentice, renamed The Applicants.

The show will feature actor John Thomson as a business tycoon who is given the task of rebranding the Church Of England.

Legendary filmmakers Roman Polanski and the Coen Brothers are among 35 film directors who will make short films for the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival.

The three minute films, on the theme of going to the cinema, will be screened at the swanky star-studded event, which takes place from May 16-27. They will be shown on May 20.

Jonathan ‘JR’ Rotem, the music producer once romantically linked to Britney Spears has offered his support as the troubled pop star attempts rehab for the third time in a week.

Spears checked into the Promises treatment centre in Malibu, California late last night after quitting two previous programmes between last Friday and yesterday.

And Rotem, who was spotted kissing and cuddling Spears during a trip to a Hollywood cinema in January is offering the singer his full support.

Sacha Baron Cohen will not be a presenter at Sunday’s Academy Award ceremony, because he could not appear as his famous character Borat Sagdiyev.

Baron Cohen has been reluctant to make appearances as himself, preferring to do interviews as the star of the faux documentary Borat.

Oscar broadcast producer Laura Ziskin tells the Los Angeles Times, “He was asked, but he declined.”

Controversial Nobel prize winner Harold Pinter is to play the lead role in a radio broadcast of one of his own plays.

Pinter, 76, who recently added his name to supporting the Independent Jewish Voices group, will play the part of Max in The Homecoming which will be broadcast on March 18.

The 1964 play is set in north London and follows the arrival home from America of Max’s son Teddy and his wife Ruth and the impact on the family.

The Van Halen reunion tour featuring the return of former lead singer David Lee Roth has been postponed indefinitely.

Tickets for the 40-date tour, which was announced on the band’s website on 2 February , were expected to go on sale this weekend.

However, a source close to the band tells USA Today the tour has been put on hold, but declined to give a reason for the delay.