Star Trek Memories, by William Shatner (Voyager, £6.99 in UK)

"Paint those whatchamacallits purple!" they would cry, or send a team of researchers scurrying around LA in search of futuristic…

"Paint those whatchamacallits purple!" they would cry, or send a team of researchers scurrying around LA in search of futuristic looking salt cellars. Plants were uprooted and placed upsidedown in their containers to give a suitably alien ambience; skimpy fabrics were Sellotaped on to generous bosoms (and that was only the men) in an effort to keep each hurriedly produced episode within budget. There are as many anecdotes in Shatner's lively memoir as there are stars in the Star Trek universe - why phasers came to be called phasers, how Leonard Nimoy adapted a Jewish rabbinical blessing to do service as the Vulcan for Live long and prosper!" and how Martin Luther King persuaded Lieutenant Ahura not to quit the series and enough arcane details to satisfy the most rigorous Trekkie.

Arminta Wallace

Arminta Wallace

Arminta Wallace is a former Irish Times journalist