Ten things you didn't know about Cary Grant

A two-day festival celebrating the life of Hollywood legend Cary Grant opens tomorrow. To get you in the mood here are 10 fun facts about the Bristol-born movie star:

• He was born Alex Archibald Leach in Horfield, Bristol. Although Hollywood execs made him change his name, he never forgot his roots. He named his character Archie in the film “Gunga Din”, and slipped a reference to Archie Leach into the script for “His Girl Friday”

• He was expelled from the Fairfield Grammar School inMontpelier for sneaking into the girls’ toilets

• He always kept a piece of twine in his pocket to remind him of his impoverished upbringing

• He was a bit of a cheapskate. He cut the buttons off his clothes before throwing them away, used old shirts to clean his house, and always reminded guests at expensive charity events that the entrance fee was tax deductible

• He was a friend of fellow Bristolian Peter Cadbury, of the famous chocolate dynasty

• His childhood records were destroyed when Bristol was bombed in WWII, so he had a bank-style vault installed in his house where he kept all his daughter’s keepsakes safe. He even rescued her notes from the bin!

• He never played a baddie. The closest he came was in the Hitchcock film ‘Suspicion’ in 1941, where the character was supposed to have poisoned his wife. Eventually though, the film was recut and Grant kept his squeaky-clean track record.

• His favourite tongue twister was “black bug’s blood”

• He regularly visited his mother at Chesterfield Hospital in Clifton, where she spent Sunday afternoons watching his films and pointing him out to patients and staff

• His statue in Millennium Square was supposed to stand opposite the Hippodrome Theatre. The plan was scuppered when a cast-iron water-mains was found under the proposed site; the council couldn’t risk the water exploding beneath the statue's feet.

The festival starts today and includes talks,tours and screenings. For full details see the website.