THE BLUFFER'S GUIDE TO STAR WARS

■ TODAY is Star Wars Day – May the 4th be with you – so here is some trivia about the classic sci-fi movie…

❑ May the 4th be with you is a pun on the Star Wars phrase “May the Force be with you”.

❑ Today, late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher will be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – seven years after her death.

❑ The first Star Wars film was written and directed by George Lucas. He had the idea in 1971 and began work on it two years later.

❑ Filming began in 1975, continued into 1976 and it was released on May 25, 1977.

❑ When shooting in Tunisia, a Jeep was left near the border with Libya. The Tunisian Government was warned by Colonel Gaddafi to move it or risk an attack.

❑ In the original draft of the script R2-D2, right, spoke English.

❑ The cast and crew of the original film believed it would prove to be a massive flop.

❑ It took $410million worldwide in its initial run, overtaking Jaws (1975) as the highest-grossing film, a record it held until 1982 when it was surpassed by ET The Extra-Terrestrial.

❑ The original Return Of The Jedi ending had Luke turning evil. Lucas decided against it because the franchise is aimed at kids.

❑ The lightsaber used by Samuel L Jackson had the letters “BMF” engraved on it. It was in tribute to Jules Winnfield, who he played in Pulp Fiction where he uses the initials in full.

❑ The voice of Darth Vader was provided by James Earl Jones, left, but the body was Dave Prowse, also known as the Green Cross Man.

❑ In 2010, Prowse was banned from all Star Wars events after he fell out with George Lucas. The actor said he was told “that I have ‘burnt too many bridges between Lucasfilm and myself’ – no other reason given”. Lucas has refused to comment.

❑ Sir Alec Guinness made a fortune from Star Wars but hated the film. When a young fan asked him for an autograph and revealed he had seen the film a hundred times, the actor agreed… on condition he never watched the movie again.

❑ The word Ewok is never mentioned in Return Of The Jedi.

❑ The voice of Chewbacca, right, is a mixture of a badger, a lion, a seal and a walrus.

❑ Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber was the handle of a vintage camera flash. The medical droid’s mouth in The Empire Strikes Back was an old microphone.

❑ The communicator used by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace was a cast of a Gillette Ladies Sensor Excel Razor.