I was sad to hear that Mel Smith, the comedy actor, died after suffering ill health for several years.

I remember meeting Mel in the 1980s when we were running the Elstree Youth Theatre at Hillside School and he became a patron. In fact he and Griff Rhys Jones put on a show at the school to raise us money.

We had a launch there and I recall chatting with actor Terence Stamp about his memories of shooting Billy Budd at Elstree Studios when he was a 1960s screen hearthrob.

I also remember paying the legendary Frankie Howerd to put on his one man show at the school and I think his fee was about £1,500, which was a bargain compared with today’s fees for TV stars.

Frankie could not resist chatting up myself and Allan Stronach, who was the artistic director of the Elstree Youth Theatre. Frankie was renowned for inviting young men to help ease his aching thigh by a quick massage but it was a temptation I could easily resist. In private I found him a rather sad character but on stage he was great at making an audience laugh.

When Frankie died of heart trouble there were a number of tributes in the next day’s papers, including one national paper that included a quote from Benny Hill. However, they did not realise Benny himself was actually lying dead in his flat.

I took them to task and the showbiz editor explained they had phoned Benny at his home, without of course knowing he was sitting in a chair there dead and so invented the quote. I imagine both Frankie and Benny would have found that rather funny.

The theatre group decided to put on the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert, and I realised that Paul McCartney was actually at Elstree Studios filming Give My Regards To Broad Street, so I asked the producer if the lads playing the Beatles could meet him.

The producer was reluctant but I pressed the point and Paul readily agreed. We spent about 30 minutes in his dressing room and he could not have been nicer. A couple of days later I had to return to the studio and meet with Paul as he had to agree which photograph of the meeting we could use.

I had to pinch myself to think that 20 years earlier I had been sitting in the old cinema that stood opposite the studio watching the film A Hard Day’s Night without ever dreaming I would one day spend time with one of The Beatles. It is a pity Elstree Youth Theatre did not survive but they were good days. I guess all those youngsters are now middle-aged and many with families of their own.

On another note, I was glad to hear the problem of the large earth mound at the back of Elstree Studios is about to be resolved.

In September work starts on levelling the area so it can come back into use, which is important as it accounts for 26 per cent of the studio’s usable space.

Sadly, in the late 1980s, Brent Walker was allowed to contaminate the area with traces of asbestos when demolishing the buildings located where Tesco now stands.

It is a good investment as Hertsmere Borough Council currently receives a much-needed £1,150,000 budgetted annual rent from the studio and an additional rent of £300,000 each year towards the studio enhancement.

It is estimated the new space could generate £600,000 a year extra revenue and increases the value of the site.

Finally, a very kind lady recently wrote on Facebook that she and many residents feel they have come to know and respect me from four decades of reading this column and 40 years of public events I have organised.

That was very kind as it is always good to know one’s efforts in life have some form of impact. I hope I can continue for years to come but now I feel like a pork pie, a bag of crisps and a large vodka and tonic. Nothing beats a healthy diet to keep you young.