1. Tom Selleck was George Lucas's original choice for the role but had to turn it down due to his commitment to the US TV series Magnum PI.

2. Indiana Jones was actually Indiana Smith until the first day of shooting.

3. The famous scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy shoots the man dramatically wielding a scimitar was improvised by Harrison Ford. It is rumoured he was suffering from piles and didn't want to do the extended fight scene that was planned.

4. Sean Connery, who played Indy's father in The Last Crusade, is only 12 years older than Harrison Ford.

5. Renowned British wrestler and Auf Wiedersehen Pet star Pat Roach was killed twice in Raiders of the Lost Ark (as a Sherpa in the bar fight and as the Nazi pugilist who meets the wrong end of a propeller) and is pushed into a rock crusher in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

6. Harrison Ford got his distinctive chin scar in a car crash in his 20s.

7. R2-D2 and C3PO, the robots from Star Wars, can be seen in the hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

8. The "chilled monkey-brains" in Temple of Doom were actually made from custard and raspberry sauce.

9. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas play missionaries in the airport at the start of Temple of Doom.

10. Indiana Jones' horse in The Last Crusade was also John Rambo's horse in Rambo III.