As we all know by now the 40th President of the United States has gone to the great White House in the sky but remains fondly remembered by our colonial cousins.

Ronald Reagan was of course stricken by both age and illness for a number of years so his death was no surprise but the media coverage indicated his popularity both home and abroad.

He was certainly a character and he certainly knew how to pace himself when getting the top job in the World.

Ronald once commented: "The secret to being at the top of any business is to surround yourself but top class people, learn to delegate as much as possible and avoid interfering!"

56 years ago he was in Borehamwood filming The Hasty Heart at Elstree Studios with his young English co-star Richard Todd.

The director Vincent Sherman once told me: "Reagan was not keen to come to England as he had recently been made President of the Screen Actors Guild and he suspected it was Warner Bros' way of getting him out of the way so he did not cause trouble for them.

"I only agreed to direct the film when they also agreed to allow me to make a film of my own choice later on."

Ronald apparently disliked the cold English winter and what, by Hollywood standards, were fairly basic facilities at the studio.

He also found the London smog and food rationing less than enjoyable.

He started his career as a sports announcer and turned to acting in 1937.

Although a fit 6ft 1ins tall he was considered too old and his eyesight too poor to serve in the Second World War.

Ironically at the age of 69 and presumably with even worse eyesight he technically became the chief of all the American military services when he was elected to serve as President.

Ronald's film career included some decent roles but the titles of some of his other movies summed up a modest career: She's Working Her Way Through College, Bedtime For Bonzo, The Voice Of The Turtle, Tugboat Annie Sails Again and Naughty But Nice!

When we celebrated the 70th anniversary of motion picture production in Borehamwood back in 1984 I wrote to the then President Reagan and received a letter back praising Elstree and Borehamwood's contribution to the world of movies and saying he had fond memories of The Hasty Heart.

When he visited Prime Minister Thatcher at 10 Downing Street she arranged for him to be presented with an album of photographs from the film and Richard Todd was invited to join them at a reception.

I suspect my invite got lost in the post although Mrs Thatcher also sent me a letter praising Elstree's unique motion picture legacy.

Incidentally the end of picture party for The Hasty Heart was held at the old Spiders Web near Watford and some of you may remember that establishment.

I had the pleasure to attend a James Bond cabaret organised by Elstree Productions and it was an excellent evening.

The singing and dancing to all those famous 007 numbers reminded me how good the film scores to those films are and it was all very enjoyable.

We certainly have some talented local residents.

Well the Town Festival starts on Saturday so I hope to meet some of you at the various events and let me know if you would like to know whatever happened to your favourite old star and we might include it as a regular feature of our weekly walk down Memory Lane.