The attraction, and my particular participation is in being able to communicate with my fans, answer their questions, get a feel for how they respond to Vader.

So I went to George and told him I had the opportunity to become the figurehead of a government safety campaign, and he agreed to give me the week off and reschedule shooting!

Training has been such a huge part of my life and career I hope to keep going with it.

George Lucas was casting about and had heard favourable things about my work in Clockwork Orange and asked me to come in, which of course I did even though no one knew what the film was about!

I'd worked in Clockwork Orange with Stanley Kubrick and since Stanley was such a prestigious director this opened all sorts of doors for me - one of them being Star Wars.

I am doing better now though one of my legs is shorter than the other due to the operations.

I'm also involved in the rights of the disabled and do some fundraising for that and I thought it would have been a big boost for the campaign but it couldn't be worked out.