Making history was a mixed blessing for Buzz Aldrin. After walking on the Moon, on 20 July 1969, the former astronaut metaphorically – and literally – came down to Earth. In today’s media-savvy world it’s hard to imagine how unprepared the Apollo 11 astronauts were for celebrity, but Aldrin, a scientist with a doctorate in astronautics, and his colleagues, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, both test pilots, found that the enormity of their achievement changed everything. “It has become part of British cinema’s heritage,” he modestly agrees.. “Second time round, we’ve made the rhythms more contemporary by bringing them to the foreground and making the whole sound more exciting.”With the addition of extra percussion and timpani plus a dash of synthesiser to colour the brass, the Nineties sound is designed for “extra kick”. And, for the first time, it’s in stereo.Moore, who enjoyed a surprise Top 40 hit earlier this year when his original composition featured in Goldbug’s “Whole Lotta Love” single, says he is pleased with the end result.

With 400 screens, Pearl & Dean now claims 22 per cent of the market. “The time was undoubtedly right for a contemporary image that reflected recent innovations in projection and audio, the birth of the multiplex, Dolby Stereo.”However, traditionalists take heart: the familiar music – entitled “Asteroids” – although updated, remains pretty much the same.Dropping the Pearl & Dean jingle was never an option, he says: “It would have been madness – the music is our logo.” Which came as good news for the original composer, Pete Moore, who was redrafted to bring “Asteroids” up to date.Moore, whose long career has included musical arrangements for the likes of Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee (not to mention penning the score for the Seventies current affairs show Nationwide) was commissioned to compose the original jingle back in 1968.”First time round, I was searching for a different tone colour and set upon a mix of brass and men’s voices,” he recalls. Landlord applies for bailiffs to evict.21 September: Bailiffs arrive to find tenant has left. In the past, she let rooms to ordinary working men who would knock on her door with the rent every week, but now she gets people who have no intention of paying They pay for a couple of weeks, then stop. Of her most recent tenants, only one had paid his rent regularly. At least the quick-change routines – gargoyles as barbers, as gamblers, as torch singers – for once fully justify the use of cartoon. In comes an abstract, boldly- coloured sequence of dancing 35mm film sprockets designed by the man behind the Channel 4 logo: design guru Martin Lambie-Nairn.A new logo also replaces the previous Greek temple corporate symbol – the business’s signature since it was launched by the brothers Charles and Ernie Pearl and one Bob Dean back in 1953.The new look is designed to reflect the improved fortunes of the UK cinema industry, according to the managing director, Peter Howard-Williams, and at Pearl & Dean itself, which has been selling advertising space in cinemas for almost half a century.After a desperate slump in the Eighties, when arch rival Rank Screen Advertising (now known as Cinema Media) snatched the lucrative contract for ABC Cinemas, Pearl & Dean’s share of UK cinema screens slumped to just 12 per cent.”New management, new cinemas and increasing cinema audiences have seen business grow once more,” he says.

However, even national institutions must move with the times. Which is why Pearl & Dean – perhaps best known to millions for its “P-pah, p-pah, p-pah, p-pah, pa-pa-PAH!” signature melody – this week unveils a new logo, title sequence and revamped jingle.
Gone are the familiar sliding dots and lines, variously interpreted as the view from the Starship Enterprise at warp factor five and (more accurately) a representation of a street scene at night. Samuelson says: “Our job is to target executives who may be considering mounting productions somewhere in Europe to get the word ‘Europe’ crossed out and ‘United Kingdom’ written in.”. They are two of the most famous names in British cinema, even if no one quite seems to know who they are or what they do. Messrs Pearl and Dean have become a national institution, as much part of our cinema- going heritage as warm Kia-Ora and sticky bags of Butterkist. The Producers’ Association, PACT, estimates that the total value of the audiovisual market in the European Union will have grown from pounds 30bn to pounds 80bn by the year 2010.To get in on this action, the BFC has a clear priority.

As Andrew Patrick points out: “Just how tangible and quantifiable the BFC’s achievements are is difficult to prove because there is always the possibility that a production might well have been shot in the UK anyway. This highlights the perennial problem in trying to quantify accurately the ‘added value’ which the BFC brings to the table.”A number of film commissions are still finding their feet. Scotland spent three years marketing itself at industry events before, in the summer of 1994, films and TV productions spent pounds 20m there on accommodation and services alone.It looks as if it’s worth taking the time to get it right. Analysts London Economic reckon the number of feature films made in Europe will increase by 400 per cent in the next 15 years. The global “audiovisual” market (which includes television, cable, satellite and so on) already generates annual revenues of more than $200bn and is growing by 14 per cent a year.