Queen overcome by Hollywood star honour

Legendary rock group Queen have been granted one of their greatest ever honours — a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Unable to contain their excitement, Brian May and Roger Taylor handed over $11,000 to cover the cost of the star and the wonderful wonderful dedication ceremony.

"I could never have dreamed of this day," said May. "To think I will join the legendary names of Lassie, Pat Sajak and Mabel Taliaferro. It's like a dream come true."

Taylor was equally overcome. "Pee Wee Herman has always been a hero of mine," he told us. "Even more so after he was caught wanking in a cinema. To think that I will now get to pay to have my name on a piece of bronze set into the pavement just a mile from his name on a bronze star in the pavement, and form an immutable part of a cheap tourist attraction. Well, it's just too much for my mind to bear."

Sadly, lead singer Freddie Mercury will never know the peak to which his band and his music had reached, being dead. But as a huge fan of Bob Barker, Big Bird and Rin Tin Tin, it's safe to assume he would have been unable to move with emotion.

But only being one of the most successful and popular bands in the world will not get them anywhere near the dream of every person who has ever lived in the modern world — to beat the record of five stars held by the most famous man ever to have breathed oxygen, Gene Autry.

Sadly though, there is a dark side to accepting the honour of one of the 20 stars handed out every year. Of the 2,207 stars handed out so far, 212 of those thus honoured have comitted suicide shortly afterwards.

It is said that once the reality of having your name put into a bit of concrete in the most artificial city of the world sinks in, many are unable to continue living their lives because of the knowledge that they had reached their pinnacle.