Well everyone, we are off on another walk down Nostalgia Lane, which for younger readers means mentions of stars you have never heard of, but sit back and think of England or pour yourself a large drink. Incidentally I believe this month is called dry January. I hope you are succeeding to abstain. Personally I never touch a drop except for medicinal purposes. I recommend a whisky called Tennessee honey liqueur which cured my sore throat, but I am old school, from when Fleet Street journalists always kept a bottle in their office drawer.

I digress. Now we are back in Elstree and Borehamwood in January 1958 and let us see what is shooting at the various studios. Well, at the vast 115-acre MGM British Studios in Elstree Way three films are being shot.

Nowhere To Go was one of the last flings of Ealing Films, who had sold their own studio and moved into MGM. The American star was George Nader, who never quite made it and today is best known as the long-term boyfriend of Rock Hudson. The Brits were represented by one of my favourite character actors Bernard Lee, who I once had a drink with in the Red Lion, now McDonald's, towards the end of his life. Sadly Bernard was an alcoholic but always gave great performances and is best remembered as M in several James Bond films.

Russ Tamblyn was starring in Tom Thumb and you may best remember him for his dancing skills in such films as West Side Story and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. He was supported by Peter Sellers and Terry Thomas. I am glad to report that Russ is still acting aged 84.

The third film at MGM was Another Time Another Place, starring Hollywood icon Lana Turner and newcomer Sean Connery. It is fair to say Lana had a reputation as a hard-drinking good time girl, enjoying flings with many of her male co-stars. It is rumoured that Carol Lombard opted to fly home as she suspected her husband Clark Gable of being too close to Lana while making a film and tragically Carol was killed in an air crash.

Meanwhile MGM in Borehamwood had a problem, in that Lana's small-time gangster partner turned up at the studio, wrongly suspecting that she was having too good a time with young Sean. MGM used their clout with the Government to have Johnny Stompanato returned to America but a few months later he was stabbed to death in her Los Angeles home. Her daughter was charged and it was the Hollywood scandal of the 1950s. Alas, Lana died in 1995 from throat cancer, possibly due to heavy drinking and smoking.

At Elstree Studios the stages were busy with Indiscreet, starring no less than Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. I think I will return to this movie on another occasion but it does illustrate the calibre of stars who have worked at these studios over the years. Cary never returned but Ingrid did, for Murder On The Orient Express in the 1970s.

At what is now BBC Elstree Centre Anthony Steel was starring in A Question Of Adultery, which was about artificial insemination. In the 1950s that meant an X certificate and in the USA it was placed on the condemned list by the Catholic League of National Decency. Who knew that Borehamwood could be a hotbed of controversy!

Lastly, we visit that long-forgotten studio in Elstree, itself called the Danzigers New Elstree Studios. It lasted only a handful of years but produced many B movies and cheap television series, some of which now have a cult following. On this occasion it had been hired for the interiors of a film called Virgin Island starring soon-to-be Hollywood legend Sydney Poitier and future cult film director John Cassavetes. I am very glad to report that Sydney, now retired, will be 92 next month.

Well, we have reached a nice country pub on our walk so I must pop in for a quick glass of orange. Until we meet again, thank you for your company and take care.