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 ... Read more ...