Well, it took a while, but the Hollywood Reporterhas finally got round to apologising for its role in the industry’s anti-communist witch-hunts of the 1940s and 1950s.

In a fascinating, sometimes overheated article, Willie Wilkerson, son of the trade paper’s founder, Billy Wilkerson, acknowledged that his dad harboured a grudge against the major studios after failing to set up his own film company in the 1920s. Seeking revenge for an imagined snub, Billy published names of supposed left-wing film professionals as a way of undermining the big studios.

Willie wrote: “On behalf of my family, and particularly my late father, I wish to convey my sincerest apologies and deepest regrets to those who were victimised by this unfortunate incident.”

This scar will take some time to heel.