One small step for man in a Houghton Regis quarry!

The quarry alongside Dunstable Road, Houghton Regis, is today the site of an attractive housing estate, built alongside a landscaped lake.
Filiming of Man In The Moon in 1960Filiming of Man In The Moon in 1960
Filiming of Man In The Moon in 1960

But this is how it looked in June 1960 when the disused chalk pit was chosen by film makers as the ideal venue for a simulated moon landing.

That’s the actor Kenneth More, in a space suit, being filmed on a space walk for the comedy Man In The Moon, which also starred Shirley Anne Field and Michael Hordern.

The real moon landing came nine years later.

The film was directed by Basil Dearden, famed maker of such classics as The Green Man and The Smallest Show On Earth, but this was one of his rare flops.

Today, it has a particularly nostalgic charm, with views of steam trains, bubble cars and a Britain which vanished long ago.