Well, I have survived another week although I must admit at my age I would now rather prefer some cooler weather. However, the sun does boost my spirits so I must not complain. I must start by thanking 84-years-young Peter from St Albans for his kind comments.

I have now written more than 2,000 of these columns over several decades and for the first time I am going to reveal how I go about it, but please keep it to yourself. Remember those wartime slogans that 'loose lips sink ships' and 'be like Dad and keep Mum.' Can you imagine the flak there would be if the Government issued such a slogan as the latter today!

I digress as usual, so back to the subject. I write this column every Sunday afternoon in my study in the west wing of my abode. I tell my butler to ensure I am left alone with a large glass of flavoured vodka, which helps me remember.

I never take more than 30 minutes to write my articles and usually do so from memory. I have not kept my articles so I guess on occasions I repeat myself but then again there are always new readers as this column appears in several papers. Luckily I have maintained extensive files and have about 1,000 film and television biographies, autobiographies and reference books going back to the 1930s.

I rarely mention modern or current productions that are shooting as they prefer no publicity, unlike when I first started. To be honest, that is not a problem for me as I usually don't recognise the stars of today and the buzz has somewhat gone. It was great fun when Roger Morris, managing director of Elstree Studios and its chairman Morris Bright invited me to visit the sets of The Crown some while ago but I have never seen the series, although I was impressed with the sets.

I have no interest in interviewing the winner of Big Brother so my visits to the studio are now very occasional. When I first started in the 1970s I used to tape my interviews with actors and behind the scenes people. Somewhere in the loft, slowly decaying, are cassette tapes of interviews with the likes of Dinah Sheridan, Edward Woodward, Trevor Howard, Donald Pleasance and Peter Cushing to name a few.

I used to interview actors on a sound stage, in their dressing room or in the restaurant or the executive bar at Elstree. The latter two have since been converted into production offices. I always ordered a cheese omelette so it was easy to talk and eat.

The most memorable of those meals was in the mid 1980s when I was involved in organising some event that now escapes me. It was hosted by the late, great then-managing director Andrew Mitchell. My dining companions were Titanic survivor Eva Hart, Hollywood legend Douglas Fairbanks Jr and the then Lord Lieutenant of Herts Major General Sir George Burns.

Doug's career with Elstree went back to the early 1930s and in the 1950s he ran what is now the BBC Elstree Centre producing about 160 television episodes. He even brought the legendary Buster Keaton to Borehamwood. He was a real gent and supported my events.

Eva I got to know in the early 1980s and she was one of the last survivors of the Titanic disaster of 1912 . At the age of seven she survived with her mother but her father drowned. I believe they have named a pub after her in her home town but from memory Eva did not drink so I wonder what she would have thought about that honour.

Sir George was quite a character and reminded me of the actor Nigel Bruce who played Watson in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies.That is reference for my older readers or film buffs.

It is very sad that they are all gone now and my memory is fading but I was very lucky to be able to enjoy their company.

On another occasion in the executive restaurant I witnessed a bit of star power. We were dining with a big Hollywood star and the restaurant overlooked the then Borehamwood Studio 70 cinema. Both the cinema and the studio were owned by EMI. The star noticed the billing order on the cinema marquee placed them below their co-star in the film that was showing. Before the meal ended I noted the cinema manager up a ladder altering the billing. That is showbiz.