Italian playwright and actor Dario Fo was stopped by journalists when he arrived at Milan's Carcano Theatre for a performance of his play 'The Devil with Breasts' on 9 October 1997, after news emerged that had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was delighted with the award and told the reporters that he never expected to be awarded the Nobel Prize, but as the first actor-author to take the honour, he believed the judges had shown great courage. However, Fo said, he would never have been in the position to be awarded if it hadn't been for his wife.