GQ Men of The Year awards get snippy

Winner of the Legend award Michael Douglas arrives at the GQ awards in London. Credit: PA

It was a night of barbed quips as the hosts of the GQ Awards managed to upstage the winners with their controversial antics.

Rob Brydon reduced the Royal Opera House audience to stunned silence when he joked bipolar Stephen Fry could not be "left alone with vodka and pills", after he had tried to commit suicide last year.

Read: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

Russell Brand also ruffled feathers by insulting sponsors Hugo Boss as he referred to their history in Nazi Germany, before getting into a battle of wits with Writer of the Year winner, Charles Moore.

Hugo Boss formally apologised in 2011 for their maltreatment of 140 Polish and 40 French workers, forced to produce Nazi uniforms during the Second World War.

While Brand quipped that the Nazis "looked fantastic," Moore took to the stage and reminded the audience of the BBC scandal Brand resigned from Radio 2 over - Sachsgate.

Moore famously refused to pay his license fee in 2009 in protest over the affair, in which Brand, egged on by Jonathon Ross, left inappropriate messages on the voicemail of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter.

Finally, it was the turn of Noel Gallagher to criticise Foreign Secretary William Hague, who presented an award, for being "here with all the s**t going on around the world you should be sorting out".

The big winner of the night was Sir Elton John, who was declared a genius but then promptly gave his prize away - to the man who was presenting it.

Paying tribute to Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who has fought a very public battle with cancer, Sir Elton handed him his award saying: "You're the f***g genius here".

He added: "He's too busy living life to think about f***g dying".

Michael Douglas was man of the moment, and put his marriage troubles behind him as he was presented with the legend award by Samuel L Jackson.

He admitted this year had "been something" and said his award was "a polite way of saying this is my third act".

  • Hugo Boss Most Stylish - Dan Stevens

  • Comedians - Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright

  • Politician - Boris Johnson

  • Oracle - Russell Brand

  • Breakthrough Menswear Designer Brand - Jonathan Saunders

  • Lifetime Achievement - Sir Bobby Charlton

  • Radio Personality - Nick Grimshaw

  • Entrepreneur - Evgeny Lebedev

  • Chef - Jason Atherton

  • Sportsman - Carl Froch

  • Writer - Charles Moore

  • Woman - Emma Watson

  • Editor's Choice Award - Roger Daltrey (Dylan Jones)

  • The Serpentine Gallery GQ Art Award - Tracey Emin

  • Band - Arctic Monkeys

  • Remy Martin Breakthrough - Eddie Redmayne

  • TV Personality - Piers Morgan

  • Performer - Pharrell Williams

  • Inspiration - Lou Reed

  • Icon - Noel Gallagher

  • Designer - Tom Ford

  • Genius - Sir Elton John

  • Legend - Michael Douglas