SINCE the weekend thousands of people have flocked to a showpiece Warwickshire car museum.

There they have marvelled over a special exhibition of props, weapons and costumes from some of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made.

Tens and perhaps even hundreds of thousands more will make a pilgrimage to the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon before the exhibition ends in September.

What none of them know is that their day out would not be happening were it not for a small Swindon boy visiting a seaside cinema with his parents one summer’s day many years ago.

The boy was Luke Kaye in those days, although these days he’s sometimes also known as Luke Skywalker, a businessman and owner of one of the finest collections of film memorabilia in private hands.

What the Heritage Motor Centre is currently hosting amounts to a fragment of that collection.

“What happened,” said the 43-year-old dad of five, “was that I first saw Star Wars with my mum and dad in Weymouth when I was 11 – we were on holiday.

“As soon as we came out of the cinema we went to Beatties, the toyshop in those days, and bought a couple of the figures.

“The thing with me is that once I start something I can’t stop. It doesn’t matter what the thing is, I have to have the entire collection.”

The same could be said of a lot of people, particularly men, but very few have the skills to parlay their obsession into a livelihood.

Luke, however, is a bit different. Running discos in his teens, he saved up £3,000 by the age of 16.

“I spent it on a Star Wars stormtrooper outfit,” he said. “I didn’t want to have a normal disco – I wanted to be the one that everybody recognised.”

His collection now ranges from film themed cereal boxes to priceless handmade replicas of Star Wars ‘droids.

The disco business still thrives, as do other businesses including costume hire, film prop sales and rentals, and exhibitions such as the one at Gaydon and a hugely successful earlier one in Liverpool.

His shop in Faringdon Road, Swinndon, is well known to enthusiasts across the world.

Luke’s collection of memorabilia is the result of diligent searches in shops, auction houses and private sales, as well as building a film industry contact book that includes stars, character actors, producers, directors and crew. Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Mark Hamill (the other Luke Skywalker) are old friends, as are Dave Prowse (Darth Vader) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca).

The Heritage Motor Centre exhibition features some of the Swindon Luke’s finest items, including costumes, props and even a vehicle or two from the Star Wars, Terminator, Harry Potter, Gremlins and Iron Man series.

The bulk of the collection remains in storage at various locations across Swindon.

Luke says his hope for the future is to find a permanent location in Swindon and make it the site of what would surely be one of the best tourist attractions of its kind in the country.

“Every day people come to the shop and tell us how much they’d like to see the collection,” he said.

“I could have done an exhibition like this in Swindon if a location had been made available, but hopefully I still can.”

The Heritage Motor Centre website is at www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk, and Luke’s is at skywalkers.co.uk