Local characters/people

Michael Anderson

Photo of Regal cinema, Uxbridge

Michael Anderson, film director, died on 25 April 2018, aged 98. He directed several famous films, including Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) and sci-fi classic Logan's Run (1976). Our historic local directories show that he lived in Vine Grove, Hillingdon in 1957 and 1958.

Probably his best-remembered film, The Dambusters (1955) commemorated the British wartime attacks on strategic German dams on 16 and 17 May 1943 - using the bouncing bomb invented by Dr (later Sir) Barnes Wallis.

In 1957, Michael released The Yangtse Incident, which told the true story of a British ship, the HMS Amethyst, caught up in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. It starred Richard Todd as Lt Commander Kerans, and was filmed on location in Suffolk.

On 7 October, the film had a special performance at the Regal Cinema, Uxbridge, when the Mayor and Corporation of Uxbridge were invited. Staffing a stall at the event were members of the Ruislip, Northwood and Ickenham Sea Cadet Corps.