Saturday 11 February 2012

He didn't feel The Force

One of my earliest memories is of being carried in tears from the Palladium cinema in Coleraine after falling asleep during Star Wars.

The year was 1977 and I had looked forward to it for weeks. I even had a Star Wars ruler - exactly like the one on the left (now worth £19 on eBay).   

But it was past my bedtime and I nodded off early in proceedings.  I'm not even sure I made it through the support programme. 

In those days, as I seem to recall, there was some sort of rule which meant that big screen productions could not be shown on British television for five years after their release.  I might be wrong, but that's what someone told me.  I think.

However, I didn't see Star Wars in 1982, or even 1983.  No, I saw it in 2010. I was just busy. 

Determined that Jamie would not have such a huge Star Wars-sized hole in his life for as long as I had to endure, I made him watch it this morning. 

He wasn't that arsed.