I really don't like writing 56. I've had no real problem with aging until this particular milestone. Possibly because I've been a little unwell this past year. Suddenly all the doors do seem to have shut. But goodness, I'd be young for a President or a Blues Guitarist.

I can’t think of much else as joyful as this to research. Lovely.

Yes. I love well the P&P films, but Canterbury Tale is the one that’s feel entirely from their Id. It’s the reeds and wreckage at the bottom of the river. There’s a reason it’s the film that gets skipped over in the documentaries.

We’re strictly U-matic tape.

My advice to the young and ambitious is to not look like a sleepy owl.

BBC1 to host a draw on Saturday night. This year’s location announced to the glory of confetti cannons.

Oh my gosh.

it still feels like a film from the future of film. The sheer joy of it. I've no time for people who find it dull or old fashioned; It's electricity.

I like that after the Kane's insulting "look at his necktie" we cut to a reverse angle, but instantly the frame is filled with men leaping up, preventing us even a moment to look at the offending neck tie.

As ever I half believe that cinema composition went downhill a little once men stopped wearing hats - indoors and outdoors.