It is very sad to see that the veteran star Gregory Peck has died in Los Angeles.

Years ago he wrote to me remarking that he was very proud of the three films he made at Elstree Studios and signed himself as Greg Peck, an Elstree veteran!

The first was Captain Horatio Hornblower, made in 1950, and he followed that with Moby Dick in 1954, for which the outdoor tank on the backlot was constructed. 20 years later Greg returned to the studio to use the tank for a film called The Dove, which he produced.

Nowadays it is used for the Big Brother house. He was much respected and was one of the few remaining major Hollywood post war stars.

I know it is very hard to believe but my 50th birthday will be upon us in a couple of weeks, and I alert my friends now so they can start saving for those presents!

A century of wear and tear is taking it's toll. Nowadays the knees ache, the waistline insists on expanding, the hair is in full retreat and sometimes a night in with a good book and a whiskey is more appealing than Stringfellows!

It is also 30 years since I started writing about the ups and downs of the studios of Borehamwood. Back in 1973 Elstree was not in a good way, with the loss of staff and EMI contemplating its closure.

The films coming out of the studio were also a sorry bunch and reflected the dire state of the film industry at the time. Who now remembers that fine actor David Niven reduced to playing a comedy Dracula character in Vampira or Cliff Richard ending his film career on a low note with Take Me High.

Movie versions of hit television shows did little to keep the studio busy with Holiday On The Buses, Man At The Top and the now very politically incorrect Love Thy Neighbour.

Hollywood itself was in turmoil as the old studio system had finally collapsed and even the fabulous studio buildings themselves were under threat.

A couple of years earlier MGM had closed it's studio in Elstree Way, sold off it's backlot in Hollywood and held an auction selling off its costumes and props. It was possible to buy Judy Garland's red slippers from The Wizard Of Oz, a chariot from Ben Hur, Charles Laughton's hat from Mutiny On The Bounty or Clark Gable's raincoat.

Back in 1993 I visited Debbie Reynold's hotel in Las Vegas and she told me: "What MGM did was a real tragedy. I got together a group of investors and offered to buy the backlot, which was full of fascinating sets and open it to the public, but they preferred to sell it for housing. It would have made a fortune like Universal but nobody wanted to look at the long term but short term profits."

I also visited the famous Paramount Studios in Hollywood in 1988 to interview Michael J Fox who was then starring in a TV series called Family Ties. The studio is actually built on land purchased from the adjoining Hollywood cemetery. At the beginning of the 1970s Paramount was also in difficulties and the cemetery offered to buy back their old land and demolish the studio.

It was saved by only one vote on the board of directors!

If you ever go to Hollywood visit the cemetery which contains the final resting places of scores of famous people including Cecil B DeMille, Bugsy Siegel, Janet Gaynor, Tyrone Power and Douglas Fairbanks. It is a tranquil oasis in a run down part of Los Angeles.

Back to my birthday, in case you had forgotten! When I was born in Borehamwood back in 1953 emails were unheard of, and the nearest thing to a text message was probably morse code.

While the Queen was getting crowned and Hillary was climbing Everest, Elstree Studios was busy with a raft of films in production.

Duel In The Jungle starred Dana Andrews and Richard Todd was Rob Roy. The film Happy Ever After brought together David Niven, Barry Fitzgerald and Yvonne De Carlo who is now best remembered for being the mum in the 1960s TV series The Munsters.

A now forgotten film called Trouble In The Glen brought Margaret Lockwood, Orson Welles and Forrest Tucker to the studio. Margaret once told me: "I came to Elstree for a screen test in the 1930s and they insisted on shaving my eyebrows. They never grew back and I did not get the part!"

The Weak and The Wicked starred John Gregson and that 1950s pin up Diana Dors in a prison drama. All of these movies were of their time and are seldom shown on television nowadays.

In them you notice everyone seems to smoke, wear a hat and drive cars that had style and character.

It was the time of teddy boys, who are now teddy grandads, penny arrowroot biscuits and when a day trip to Southend was the closest you got to going abroad.

I think there was more of a community spirit, the days seemed longer, and there were no colour TVs, DVDs or mobiles, so you did not feel deprived without these 'necessities of life'. I guess hitting 50 makes you ponder on what has been and what is to come.