Tall tales told on Torquay turnout SBHD:

The Diary was intrigued to learn that Torquay is launching its own international film festival in April 1999, patronised by none other than Joel Silver, the Hollywood producer of such blockbusters as Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. But most interesting of all were the comments of festival organiser, Bernard Aspden, who says: “We’re targeting the 596,442 film-goers in Devon.” One wonders how Mr Aspden can be quite so sure of his figures. Is he really just guessing on a grand scale? Well, the Diary is good friends with the Tuckers, a lovely Exeter film-going couple who always spend April abroad, so he can guess again.