Sir, – Congratulations to Paul Howard on his vivid memoir ("Are you there Darth?", November 23rd) of what it was like to be a Star Wars fan growing-up in the early 1980s.
I too was at Darth Vader's "appearance" at Ballybrack Shopping Centre, but another 1983 event that was especially memorable for me was the Return of the Jedi movie prop exhibition in Arnotts.
This event even saw real Star Wars actors Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) signing autographs for hundreds of fans. When the crowds had gone, my mother took the real Darth Vader helmet off the display stand and put it on my head but, alas, we didn't have a camera to record the starry-eyed look on my 11-year-old face.
Another time she wandered around Dublin city centre for seven hours while my younger brother and I watched all three films back-to-back. In the interests of child safety, parents were allowed to come into the cinema after each movie to see if their kids were alright!
– Yours, etc,
DOMINIC PHELAN
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.