Britt Ekland

Brain VINER: In the classic folk-horror film The Wicker Man, Britt Ekland, above, bared all. Or so audiences in December 1973 were led to believe. 'But I've got an **** like a ski slope,' she cried as she learned that her backside will be revealed to the camera, so director Robin Hardy obligingly recruited a comely 'bottom double'. Despite the filmmaker's sleight of hand, or rather haunch, The Wicker Man was a thrillingly daring film. It's a little old now, but it's still horribly scary and, in some cases, scary. Edward Woodward was sent by a devoutly Christian policeman, Neil Howie, to look for a missing teen on a remote Hebridean island where the locals, including the pub landlord's flirtatious daughter Willow (Ekland), were in thrall with the sinister laird. (Christopher Lee). Lee, who used to say he had appeared in more films than anyone else, had no idea that The Wicker Man was the pick of them. Despite Woodward's tragic ending, he did.

William, Kate, and the children attended Westminster Abbey's carol service together, breaking with the late Queen's tradition that those first in the line of succession travel separately. We may have ended up with Harry as the heir apparent and Meghan as Princess of Wales in the case of an unexpected disaster. In the line of succession, the King has not changed Harry and Andrew's positions. For the sake of everybody, William might reconsider his travel plans in the future, or beg your father to modify the succession laws.

Now, as The Wicker Man commemorates its 50th anniversary, actress Britt Ekland, who played the ostensible female lead, has reflected on the film's longevity, bringing the story building to its climax in picturesque locations in south-west Scotland. Ms Ekland, who has died at the age of 81, is still grieved over the infamous dance scene, in which a stripper acted as her body double. "I made some remarks about how difficult the film was and that it was implied that I had ill feelings against it," she said.