Hello everyone, thank you for joining me once again and thank you for your kind feedback. Even after 40 years of writing this column I never take my readers for granted so bless you for your kind comments wherever you are reading this, from Watford to St Albans, or even overseas thanks to the internet. I was first asked to write a weekly column in the Borehamwood Times back in 1977. I was already writing for another paper so my first columns were written under a false name to create the illusion two people were rival columnists. In those days the local press were inundated with adverts so they needed feature items.. This was of course long before the internet and I typed my columns on a manual typewriter. It all seems a long time ago.

This week my legs are not up to a walk down memory lane so let us adjourn to a nice pub garden for our dose of nostalgia. For many years I hosted special events to bring back old stars from Elstree's past. I started the first one in 1984 at Elstree Studios and in those days the guests included the likes of Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Dame Anna Neagle, who had made pictures here in the 1930s. In 1990 we moved the event to our local theatre called the Venue so the public could also attend. Alas, that closed in 1996 so once again I moved the event to the BBC Elstree Centre, enabling the public to attend. In 2008 for my final event we returned to Elstree Studios and I must admit I miss hosting those occasions.

I was so lucky to catch the tail end of an era where stars would support me without ever asking for a fee, and mostly they made their own way to the event as I never had more than a shoestring budget. Can you imagine trying your luck with the 'celebrities' of today when they can get thousands for opening a fridge.

I also got a kick out of bringing together old names who had once worked together. For instance Peggy Mount and David Kossoff, who in the 1950s starred in a highly successful television series called The Larkins, or Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews and Christopher Lee, who in the 1960s made Hammer horror films together.

I remember the late Russ Conway coming with his young male companion and Ron Moody turning up with his family, Herbert Lom recalling his days at Elstree shooting the television series The Human Jungle, Frazer Hines recalling his days on Doctor Who and Honor Blackman remembering working with Liz Taylor in Borehamwood in the late 1940s.

I could mention another hundred names but I am sure you have the picture that I was like a kid in a sweetshop and just so lucky.

At Pinewood Studios, Morris Bright, now Chairman of Elstree Studios, used to organise similar events with the British Comedy Society to celebrate the stars who had worked at that studio. I have great memories of attending several of those events in the 1990s. Once I was a fellow guest with Donald Sinden as he had just got his knighthood and I had been made an MBE for saving Elstree Studios. On other occasions it was lovely to meet old Rank Organisation stars like Norman Wisdom and the Carry On survivors. At one of the events I recall the late Are You Being Served star Frank Thornton being surprised by Michael Aspel for an episode of This Is Your Life. I am still not quite sure why that show died a death as I found it entertaining.

On one of these events at Pinewood I met Dirk Bogarde, who had once been a Rank Organisation star and in the 1950s was called 'the darling of the Odeons', referring to the cinema chain Rank then owned. In his heyday Dirk had screaming girls chase him but they did not know he was a homosexual. In the 1950s that would sadly have been the kiss of death to any matinee idol. In those days studios protected successful stars and the fan magazines and the press went along with it. Nowadays the media are like a pack of wolves ready to reveal any issue regarding a star if it makes sales. I once asked Dirk to attend an event at Elstree Studios but he replied: "I consider myself retired and have no interest in being reunited with fellow actors". I suspect being one thing in private but another in public is not easy especially in this silly biz we call show, where fantasy and fact merge together.

I am old fashioned and prefer to protect the memories of stars and take them to my grave as showbiz must never be taken seriously, but alas the kids of today actually believe they are important. Today, albeit having helped save Elstree Studios, I have limited to the Studio bar and I would be Tasered or shot if I approached a sound stage. Well, it is time to finish our drinks and head home but thank you for your company, although perhaps there is time for one for the road!