May the fourth be with you!

May the Fourth be with you!

It’s Star Wars Day, observed each year on May 4 by fans of the mega Star Wars media franchise that began in 1977.

It’s a good time to remind our readers of Newbury’s links with the franchise.

Greenham Common airbase has been a go-to location for several film companies over the years, but shooting is always shrouded in secrecy.

Newburytoday relies on tip-offs from eagle-eyed walkers on the common and our own photographer with a radar for intergalactic activity, Phil Cannings, when film units fetch up.

There had been rumours of strange goings on at Greenham Common in 2014, but details were firmly under wraps.

Then the news broke: Greenham's silos would feature in the film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, after photographer Matthew Myatt snapped Han Solo’s prized craft, the Millennium Falcon, alongside an X-Wing fighter parked outside the former GAMA site, while shooting promotional pictures for Airbourne Aviation based at Popham Airfield in Hampshire.

See the pictures here https://tinyurl.com/59vvjyvc

But we must confess the Storm Trooper featured was non other than our own former reporter and Star Wars superfan John Herring.

Then more footage featuring Greenham Common began to emerge, including this YouTube clip https://bit.ly/3MUoDdv

Set 30 years after The Return of the Jedi, the new film reunited the cast of the original saga, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia.

The movie hit cinemas in December 2015.

Then last year, we had another scoop. Television crews were again spotted working at Greenham airbase and there were reports of a mysterious hairy guard patrolling the silos, sparking rumours that Newbury could yet again be returning to a galaxy far, far away.

Our photographer went hotfoot to the site, where a member of the production crew said that they were filming a television series, but wouldn’t reveal what. We snapped what we later learned was an alien mercenary that first featured in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

See the pictures at https://tinyurl.com/4t568kfn

It turned out the unit was shooting for Disney+ Star Wars TV spin-off series Andor.

However you celebrate Star Wars Day, beware the power of the dark side.