Bedale: Through adversity to the stars

"If you watch the first five minutes of the film you will see that the Golden Lion is actually the hotel of the same name which still stands in Northallerton High street," says Tony Herrington of Coundon. "Most of the interior scenes (including those of the reception area are from the Lion). Some of the exterior shots are indeed of Bedale."

Geoff North says the same thing, and David Walsh in Guisborough adds: "I remember a plaque somewhere in the Golden Lion lobby put up by, I think, Northallerton Town Council."

It would appear that some interior shots were filmed at the Black Swan in Bedale. According to old Bedalian Alan Macnab, the Swan had a similar entrance canopy to the Lion, but that is now gone.

The Way to the Stars was written by Terence Rattigan who adapted it from a play, Flare Path, that he had written three years earlier. In the original play, the pub where Miss "Toddy" Todd, played by Rosamund John, was landlady was the Golden Lion.

In the film, she marries David Archdale, played by Michael Redgrave. A year later he is shot down over France and killed, leaving her with a young baby.

The other love interest concerns Pilot Officer Peter Penrose (played by John Mills) who is courting Iris Winterton (Renee Asherson), who is staying with her domineering aunt at the Golden Lion. Unwilling to leave Iris in a similar predicament, Penrose breaks off with her and is posted elsewhere. However, he is forced to make an emergency landing at his old base, re-meets Iris and Toddy persuades him to propose to her.

Or so I can read on wikipedia.

The plot appears to have confused me because two readers, Doreen Groom from Carlton and Janice Latter, emailed to point out that I had captioned the picture wrongly.

Says Janice: "The photo you show is John Mills with his love interest Iris played by Renee Asherson. Rosamund John did play 'Toddy',the landlady, but she married the Redgrave character before he was killed - so not a 'fiance'."

So now I've put all of that right, I turn to Dave Middlemas' offering.

He says: "I have a couple of books on Northern World War Two airfields which both claim that much of the filming was done at RAF Catterick (now Marne Barracks at the side of the A1). This would follow as by 1945 operations at the fighter base had ceased because it was not possible to extend the runway to accommodate the new jet fighters which required considerably more distance to take-off (Catterick's runway was bounded at one end by the River Swale and the other by the Great North Road so couldn't be extended).

"Instead, most of the Meteors and Vampires were stationed at nearby Middleton-St-George which was transformed into a fighter training base after the Canadian bombers left in summer 1945.

"Catterick airstrip was however rather curiously overdeveloped in terms of hangarage for the number and size of aircraft which were stationed there.

"In the film it was called 'Halfpenny Field'.

"Also in the film, nearby Constable Burton Hall was used as the setting for an HQ for the local USAF squadron (the film of course featured an American love rival to Mills' character - Douglas Montgomery).

"And, finally, you will no doubt be aware that the title of the film comes from the RAF motto displayed on the crest 'per ardua ad astra'."

That means 'through adversity to the stars' which was obviously too complicated for the Americans as when the film was released over there it was called Johnny in the Clouds.

Many, many thanks to everyone who has been in touch.