When it was announced that Banksy's excellent Exit Through the Gift Shophad been nominated for an Oscar, speculation rumbled as to whether the anonymous street artist would turn up at the ceremony.

It now emerges that the elusive genius hatched a plan to attend in disguise, but his scheme was vetoed by Oscar bigwigs, who stated: “The fun but disquieting scenario is that if the film wins and five guys in monkey masks come to the stage all saying, ‘I’m Banksy’. Who the hell do we give it to?