The parents of Keighley-born writer Simon Beaufoy are “thrilled” that he has won a Best Screenplay Golden Globe for Slumdog Millionaire.

And his mother revealed he was first inspired by Mumbai, India, where the hit film is set, when he went there as a teenage backpacker.

Slumdog Millionaire scooped four awards at the Golden Globes this week: Best Film; Best Screenplay; Best Director and Best Original Score.

After the glittering ceremony in Los Angeles Mr Beaufoy telephoned his parents, Madelaine and Roger, at their home at Glusburn, near Keighley, early yesterday to give them the good news.

His mother said: “It was 12.30am over there. He said: ‘Are you still up?’ We’d just got up!

“It’s wonderful, we’re thrilled. He spent months on this script. We read the book, Q&A, on which it’s based, and when we read the script we were very impressed. It’s so dynamic.

“We saw the film at a premiere and loved it. I’m thrilled for Simon, Danny and the cast and crew. It has taken everyone by surprise. Simon has won three other awards – the Critics Award, the Critics’ Choice Award and the National Review Board award. He’s going straight to New York to receive that.”

Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, is a vibrant love story about street kid Jamal Malik, who faces the big question on TV game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Mr Beaufoy, 42, wrote the screenplay for smash hit The Full Monty which won four Baftas in 1998. He lost out on the Best Screenplay Oscar to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for Good Will Hunting.

With the Golden Globes results said to be a pre-runner for the Academy Awards, he’s a favourite to scoop his first Oscar next month.

“I hope so, it would be nice this time because he didn’t get one for The Full Monty” said Mrs Beaufoy. “That’s not why he does it though. He’s never gone for the blockbuster.”

Mrs Beaufoy said Simon first visited Mumbai aged 18.

“He went backpacking alone,” she said. “He wrote to us saying there wasn’t a place to sit or lie. Everywhere was filled with people.

“He was blown away by Mumbai, he’s been back a lot.”

Mr Beaufoy, whose other film screenplays include Blow Dry, Yasmin, filmed in Keighley, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, once told the Telegraph & Argus: “In a script I look for what interests me and what will interest others.”

Asked if he felt under pressure to come up with the next Full Monty he said: “I’m over all that now. It was lovely when it happened but hits aren’t necessarily what I’m aiming for. I pursue what interests me.”

He attended Malsis School in Glusburn and Ermysted’s in Skipton. His mother said as a child he wanted to be a soldier.

“At 16 he decided he’d become an artist and eventually he turned to writing and film,” she said.

Last year he made it into Who’s Who, the ‘bible’ of the famous and influential, and in his entry proudly mentions his Keighley roots.