Welcome everyone and thank you for joining me once again. I have been writing this column every week since 1977, although only in more recent times has it appeared in several papers. My original remit was to talk about what was or had been filmed in the several studios based in Borehamwood and the stars who appeared in those movies or television shows. That remains the same, which is why I don't cover other studios or pass comment on films shot elsewhere. Thankfully Borehamwood has a film-making past stretching back to 1914 so there is a lot to choose from.

It was great to see the BBC Elstree Centre playing host to the wonderful Children In Need finale and by the end of the night I believe they had raised an incredible £48 million, so congratulations to those who took part and those of you who donated. Once again the Rickshaw Challenge was a huge success and there were such great kids participating.

My only gripe is that throughout the week they kept referring to finishing in Elstree rather than Borehamwood and at Elstree Studios rather than the BBC Elstree Centre. Of course at the end of the day it does not matter, but when the BBC took over the old ATV Studios I wish they had named it the BBC Borehamwood Centre to at least save confusion between the two studios that are only a few hundred yards apart.

I still cannot shake off my instinct to buy material related to our motion picture heritage in my town, which includes television. I have just bought a handwritten letter from a London hotel dated 1953 from Spencer Tracy. He was here for talks about a film at MGM in Borehamwood that never happened.

Spencer starred in the first MGM film made at their 115-acre studio off Elstree Way in 1948, which was was not a great success. By then he was having a long term affair with Katie Hepburn, who flew over to be with him, but they stayed at separate hotels as he was married.

Spencer was not a happy person in his private life and was famous for going on drink binges, which were covered up because the studio considered him box office gold. He remained in a marriage for religious reasons and apparently felt guilty that his son was born deaf.

He was a great actor in the sense that you never saw him acting as with, say, Laurence Olivier, which is a rare gift.

His career slowed down rapidly due to his failing health in the 1960s but you must watch him in his last film, called Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, with Katie and Sidney Poitier.

He was so ill that his friend and director went ahead regardless that the insurance company declined to cover Spencer. That was a big gamble as he was a leading character. Somehow he got through the filming but died shortly afterwards. He was living with Katie in a bungalow on the estate of their friend, the legendary Hollywood director George Cukor. He apparently got up in the night and went to the kitchen, where he collapsed from a fatal heart attack. Katie did not attend his funeral out of respect for his wife and family.

Can you imagine the feast magazines and the tabloids would have with such a story involving two stars today? That is not my way so I will take to the grave some things I have encountered in the silly world of showbiz.