Those that forget the past... are old!

Detail from the ongoing Chuffin' Billy comic strip, written by Noel Hannan

A childhood memory that I thought was real turned out to be not as real as I had once thought. Spent some time this morning fact checking and trying to work out the actual time-line for what had happened. No biggie really, just when did I go to see Star Wars for the first time? Turns out I may have mashed several memories together to come up with a suitable narrative for my childhood 44 years ago.

1977. Dad had to drive 20 miles to find a showing of Star Wars and even in Northampton, tickets were sold out. Daylight dwindling and in a state of panic with two small boys in tow, he got us in to a showing of the next best Science Fantasy movie released that week, the Italian made  The Humanoid.  11 yr old me loved it. At least that's how I remember it, but some things don't add up. Star wars was released in the UK on December 1977 and I remember the day being hot, dusty, dressed in a T-shirt, vibrant saturated colours, Dad driving me and my younger brother around Northampton town in an old Ford Zephyr - all very 70's.

Did we really wait for the following spring in 1978 to go and see Star Wars and was the Italian knock off The Humanoid still popular enough to warrant a cinematic release months later? To add insult to memory, it turns out The Humanoid wasn't released until 1979. When did I see Star Wars for the first time and why have I supplanted such a momentous occasion with a fake, made up memory?