THOUGH famed for his on-screen roles as aristocrat, romantic lead or as a ruthless lady-charmer, Nigel Havers was actually "one of the lads".

The students of Cowley, St Helens, discovered this when he visited in the 1980s and joined the lads in a kick-about on the school field - naturally with the oval ball.

An old Cowleian, calling himself N. H. and now living in Nottingham, was in the fifth at the school, at that time. And he revives the Havers tale, in recalling the time when most of the cast of the Oscar-winning film, Chariots of Fire, popped up.

Nigel was playing the role of Lord Andrew Lindsay. And Cowley's top and bottom changing rooms were used to replicate the Paris Olympics rooms.

The school architecture then was just right for the 1920s period, and filming there lasted for three days. "It was exam time", he says, " so some of the masters were not best pleased to have their pupils distracted by the cast and camera team."

A friend, adds N. H., later had a part as an extra for the filming of the stadium scenes, shot over three weeks at the Oval Sports Centre, Bebington. The nearby Woodside Ferry terminal was the location for the scenes at Dover.

Those old Cowley dressing rooms needed a good slap of paint before being featured in the top-flight production.

That's the memory of Harry Wood, of Haydock, in replying to my earlier piece about the Chariots of Fire film, scripted by noted author Colin Welland, who was brought up in Newton-le-Willows.

"I was at Cowley in the 1980s when the film was being made", says Harry. "and the changing rooms got a much-needed paint job before filming took place."

It was during the summer holidays when the place was virtually empty. "I remember seeing the local film scene", says Harry, "all 60 seconds of it, when the film came out!"