HOLLYWOOD movie star Charlton Heston visited Swindon at the height of his Hollywood career.

Swindon film buff Peter Cook, of Broome Manor, believes that he could be the only living person in Swindon to know that the star, who died at the weekend, visited the town in the 1960s.

Now after the actor's death at the age of 84, Mr Cook wants to share the legend's links to Swindon with the rest of the town.

"I used to work at the railway works. And one of my colleagues came in to work one day and said Guess who came round to my house for tea last night?" said Mr Cook.

"He said Charlton Heston went around his house in Rodbourne for tea. But no-one believed him.

"Charlton Heston was a really big name at the time. It must have been about 1968.

"Heston went to his house because one of his relatives, I think his sister, was a nanny for Charlton Heston's children.

"I think he might have visited them more than once, but I know for a fact he did visit that one time because I've seen the pictures."

Mr Cook, 70, said that knowing he was a movie-buff, his colleague Edgar Brotheridge gave him pictures of the star, in Swindon with his wife and son, but Mr Cook promised to keep the visit a secret.

"There were some really beautiful colour pictures of him at different places around town. It must have been the same day because he was wearing the same clothes.

"I don't know what happened to those pictures.

"All I have is a black and white picture, which has got a bit tatty over the years. His wife's sister was in contact with Charlton Heston for a long time. He would send letters to her in Montagu Street, and sent her pictures drawn by his children and things.

"I said to her she should tell the Adver, but she never wanted any publicity, and I don't think she wanted Heston's family to think she had betrayed their trust.

"But I think everyone else involved has passed away now, so I wanted people in Swindon to know there was a Swindon connection with him.

"He was a fantastic actor in Hollywood's early days.

"The family knew how much I liked films, so gave me the picture of him in Swindon, which I think was taken in Gladstone Street."

The Hollywood legend won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot racing Ben-Hur and played Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other figures in Hollywood epics of the 1950s and 1960s.

A spokesman for the Charlton Heston's family said he died on Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, California. His wife Lydia was at his side.

The star revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying: "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."