Where has that week gone since we were last together? This week, I have been dragged out into the limelight once again from my peaceful retirement — in this case by the BBC.

They seem to have just discovered that all this year, we have been celebrating 100 years of film production in Borehamwood, although they usually refer to it as Elstree.

I know some residents get annoyed about that, but in the very limited airtime one is given, it is often difficult to explain the difference.

Historically, when the film industry came here they looked around and noticed the railway station was called Elstree – as was the telephone exchange.

They knew that Borehamwood sat in the municipal parish of Elstree, which had been a well-known watering hole in Watling Street since Roman times, so they took the name of the parish. It had nothing to do with snobbery.

However, when MGM opened its studios in Elstree Way after the war, it tended to use the words Boreham Wood on its credits to avoid confusion with the nearby Elstree Studios.

Now Elstree is an iconic name representing British film and television throughout the world and, naturally, the media know that is the name people will recognise.

I have been on television and radio many times since my first appearance in 1982. In that case, I was asked by ITV to stand in the foyer of our local cinema, which was about to close. They stood me in front of a film poster for a new release called Meat Balls, an American comedy movie.

That evening I phoned all my friends to watch me on TV, only to see that my head obscured the word meat and the remainder seemed a comment on my performance.

During the Save Elstree Studios campaign, which I was honoured to chair for eight years, I was often asked to appear on radio and television to comment. Interest came from Iceland, Germany, Italy, France, Germany, America and many other places.

I recall a TV crew turning up from Argentina, saying, ‘We’ll shoot you in long shot as most of our viewers do not speak English so you can say anything as we will dub another voice in afterwards.’

So I stood by the entrance to Elstree Studios reciting the words to a hit record called Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree. Heaven help me if there were any lip-readers in Argentina as they must have thought me a mad Englishman.

I also had a friend, who was holidaying in Spain, phone me after he turned on the television to hear me speaking Spanish. They had of course dubbed my voice and I had not suddenly become bilingual. Indeed, I have never learned any foreign language as I assume any decent foreigner will speak English.

Last week, I was twice whisked off to the massive BBC complex in London to be interviewed for BBC Five Live and the BBC World Service, who have about 260 million listeners each week.

Both times, they sent a nice car for me. On the first occasion, it was a black Mercedes often used to shuttle around the likes of Bruce Forsyth.

As we were driving home down the A1, the car happened to find itself behind two police motorcycle cops 
and it looked like my car was accompanied by a police escort, so other cars got out of the way.

For a moment I felt like a VIP and some drivers even waved at me, although I was shocked how many 
drivers seem to have only one finger on their hand...

Two final thoughts for this week: I was sad to hear of the death of that great character actor Warren Clarke who made one of his first screen appearances in A Clockwork Orange at Elstree Studios. I always enjoyed his screen appearances.

Finally, do you know of anyone who worked on the 1950s Elstree film Moby Dick, starring Gregory Peck?

A television company is interested in interviewing any crew members who worked on that movie.  
Believe me, it is very easy to be interviewed and they would love to share your memories.