August 2021 became Bette Davis month at the British Film Institute on London’s Southbank, showing many of her films on the big screen. I was invited to take part in an “All About Bette Davis” discussion on stage in NFT1 on the 5th. Below is a video clip shot by my friend Isabel Chalmers of Lower Alnwood, which was just part of my long rambling answer to the question of how I encountered Miss D as a student on the BA History of Modern Art, Design & Film degree course at Newcastle Polytechnic in 1985. This begins with my recollection of a screening of Now, Voyager (1942) and the impact that this had upon me then and thereafter.

For more on this event, see the Public Presentations section of my website under the general heading of ‘Speaking.’

Many thanks to Isabel for recording this video, Joe Sarno for editing, reformatting and improving the sound quality and Mark McKenna for loading it up onto my website.