Well here we are again and the clocks have gone back so winter draws on. I think we must halt our weekly stroll down memory lane and instead gather by a nice log fire so I can regale you with more tales of Borehamwood's film and television heritage.

I must first start by mentioning a new book called Elstree Studios - A Celebration of Film and Television, written by Morris Bright and Paul Burton. This is the first book on the subject for over 30 years so long overdue and welcomed.

It tells the story of 90 years of motion picture production at the studio and is full of interesting photographs. As it is under 200 pages and I believe neither author had visited the studio before we lost 12 acres to Tesco 25 years ago, it tends to fly through the years and may not satisfy film buffs. However, you cannot sell books for such a limited market so they have I feel aimed it at the general public and it is very readable. It will make a very nice Christmas present and a nice tribute to Elstree.

I have resisted writing such a book because I have accumulated so much material over 50 years and would be loath to omit anything thus rendering it far too expensive to publish. I am finishing a book on the MGM British Studios in Borehamwood, which by comparison was really operational only for about 25 years yet it will have to be 300 pages long as I have written 160 pages of facts, interviews, reviewed each production and have 400 unpublished photos, plans and aerial shots to fit in.

The Elstree book had a nice launch at Elstree Studios to which I was kindly invited and spent the evening sitting with the lovely actress Nanette Newman, who I had not seen for seven years since I hosted the plaque unveiling for her late husband Bryan Forbes with the guest unveiler Dickie Attenborough.

It is sad to hear that veteran actress Maureen O'Hara has died in her sleep albeit at the grand age of 95 after a marvellous career that started at Elstree Studios.

Maureen once said to me: "I was a young girl from Ireland and offered a screen test at Elstree which was seen by the Oscar-winning actor Charles Laughton who was working there. He seemed impressed and I was cast in Jamaica Inn, starring Laughton and Robert Newton and directed by Alfred Hitchcock at the studio. He then took me to Hollywood where I starred opposite him in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and so began my 60 years on screen."

Maureen then went on to star in such movies as the classic How Green Was My Valley and several films with John Wayne, including The Quiet Man.

Last year, the American Academy awarded Maureen an honorary Oscar for her contribution to motion pictures and she was presented with it by Clint Eastwood and Liam Neeson at a private academy event not televised, which I think is a great shame. A few years ago, the academy dropped the awarding of such Oscars at the main ceremony presumably because they assume the much sought after younger viewers are not interested in old stars of yesteryear. Personally, that was the only reason I watched the event in recent times and don't bother at all now as I have not seen the films and not interested in what stars I have never heard of are wearing on the red carpet.

I was so lucky to have met so many of the stars from Hollywood's golden era, albeit in their latter days. So many have also supported my film evenings over the decades, usually because of their happy memories of filming in the various studios of Borehamwood.

I appreciate newcomers to our town have no knowledge of the days when Borehamwood was the biggest film and television production centre outside of Hollywood and at one stage six of the top ten grossing movies in the world had been shot here. Not bad for a little town in Hertfordshire, so I welcome the new book that celebrates part of that legacy.