MY parents had a strange habit. No, they didn’t keep me in the attic for fear I’d scare the neighbours.

They used to go to the cinema half way through the main feature film and watch the end, then sit through the newsreels and shorts, and watch the beginning of the film, before leaving the cinema at the point they had come in.

If that makes any sense.

This was when picture houses were open “continuously” and patrons could walk in and out whenever they liked.

I mentioned this in a column to ask if this peculiarity had manifested itself in only them or was it normal in the 1950s and 1960s.

Cris Langton, of Farnley Tyas, assures me that other picturegoers followed the same practice.

“As teenagers, those of us living in the outback (or Farnley Tyas, if you prefer) often saw the end of a film first, then the beginning, and left partway through. The only reason for this was the lack of a late bus: during the week the last bus was 22.35. We had no money for taxis and few cars though, if we were very lucky, my dad would pick us up at the end of the show.”

Cris is “still in Farnley Tyas, despite the lack of buses”.