Oprah Winfrey gets street named after her

Oprah Winfrey has had a street named in her honour in Chicago.

The 100th block of North Carpenter Avenue in the city - which is the location of her chat show - has been renamed Oprah Winfrey Way, and the 57-year-old television mogul has joked it is a "full circle miracle" as she had grown up on a "red dirt road" in Mississippi.

She said: "It is really just a full-circle miracle story that a little coloured girl born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on a red dirt road ends up with my name on a street in the greatest city in the world, Chicago. So, thank you! That's better than an Oscar or an Emmy."

The star moved to the city to audition to host a TV show called 'AM Chicago', and revealed to the crowd outside Harpo Studios yesterday she would have stayed in the city even if she didn't get the job.

She said: "I thought, even if I don't get the job, I'll move into advertising in order to just be able to live in the city, which truly is the greatest city in the world.

"I just would like to say 'thank you' to the mayor and also to the city of Chicago for embracing me and allowing me to take a stand and make a stand here in this city.

Mayor Richard Daley - who was with Oprah to unveil the road sign - described her as a "great presence" in the city.

He said: "There isn't enough time or adequate words that can describe what your 25-year journey has meant to Chicago.

"Your presence in Chicago has been a gift over two decades. The 'Oprah Winfrey Show' has drawn worldwide attention to our city and an instinctive energy from it."

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