TOM HANKS - DEGENERES NAMES ROOM AFTER HANKS

Hollywood actor TOM HANKS received the ultimate honour from ELLEN DeGENERES yesterday morning (24NOV04), when she officially renamed a room in her talk show studio after him.

Because DeGeneres is reluctant to turn away the hordes of fans who arrive to view tapings of her hit show, she has a spill-over room, which was called The Experience, where the audience can watch the proceedings on a big screen.

But the name has now officially been changed to The Tom Hanks Riff-Raff Room after the actor visited the show for a Thanksgiving holiday special.

Standing on a podium, Hanks declared, "This is obviously the big surprise.... are we not all riff-raff? We are, in fact, a nation of riff-raff, so anyone who comes into this room and enjoys my likeness and the dedicated environs of this room should celebrate the fact that they are riff raff. It's American to be riff raff!"

Hanks also put his handprints in wet concrete to solidify the moment.