ANTHONY HOPKINS - HOPKINS TO MEET UP WITH CHILDHOOD FRIENDS FOR 70TH

SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS is returning to his native Wales to throw himself a 70th birthday party on New Year's Eve (31Dec07) - and the Oscar winner is inviting childhood friends he hasn't seen in 65 years. The Silence Of The Lambs star, who now lives in California, is also inviting Welsh celebrities including Catherine Zeta Jones, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and actor Michael Sheen to the lavish bash. But Hopkins admits he's mostly looking forward to meeting up with his childhood chums. He says, "I'm going back to Wales to see people I haven't seen for 65 years - kids I used to play with in the street, my little girlfriends. "I saw them (girlfriends) recently just to make sure I'd remember them and I recognised all of them. We had a lunch for them in south Wales and sent out invitations and they came with their husbands. "It was amazing, I recognised all of them. It was great to see them all again."