WHEN legendary film critic Barry Norman comes to Bewdley next month as part of the annual arts festival in the town, don't hold your breath when the inevitable question is asked: what, Barry, is your favourite movie?

Because Norman doesn't have one, even though he's trawled through more than 12,000 pictures as part of a life-long obsession with the silver screen, a life chronicled in his one-man show And Why Not?.

He said: "That questions crops up at every show I have done so far and the answer is always the same - I don't have one! I have seen so many films and to pick one would be impossible.

"Essentially I have a whole group of films that I would happily watch at any time. I did a book of 100 essential films and that was difficult enough."

Born in 1933, the face of the BBC's influential Film programme for more than a quarter of a century admits he doesn't cast his critical gaze towards films, and the film industry, with the breathtaking frequency which made him famous.

And for good reason, says Norman: "Generally speaking the audience is made up of people who don't want to think - they want lots of action and special effects but are not interested in character and story development - only lots of things happening very quickly.

"The people I knew best in the 1960s and 70s were actors like Terence Stamp and Michael Caine and they had to struggle and be around for some time, so they were well rounded.

"I think the young kids, the pretty boys, have it a lot easier - you go to drama school, you look pretty and suddenly you are in a movie."

It's a long way from the halcyon days of cinema when, during the 1970s, Norman hit the small screen following a stint as the showbiz editor for the Daily Mail.

He said: "It was a very good decade for films - after a while you had pictures like Jaws and Star Wars, which changed the cinema forever because it attracted young people in huge numbers but also a slew of imitators which led to a decline in quality.

He added: "Cinema today has alienated older film goers who do want to take their brains to the cinema with them."

But Norman - who said Pirates of the Caribbean was the last good film he saw - has lost none of the zest which first attracted him to those classic movies.

He said: "A few Christmases ago, everybody had gone to bed and I was just about to go myself when The Godfather came on. I thought I would just watch the first bit and I was still there when the final credits rolled."

An Audience with Barry Norman ... And Why Not? comes to Bewdley Festival on October 10 and offers film buffs "a unique opportunity to meet the man who has many great stories to tell of the rich and famous and their antics both on and off screen".

The second half of the show is an open question and answer session while the first half takes a far more unusual turn for Norman, as he lays out his life in the regional press and his first tentative TV appearances until his big broadcasting break.

He said: "I had far more trepidation about the first half, because to sit there for 45 minutes and talk about yourself is quite unusual when you've spent so long listening to other people tell you about themselves!"

For tickets call 01299 403355.