Errol Flynn was one of the world’s most famous film stars between the 1930s and the 1950s.

Often called swashbuckling, he was a handsome, all-action actor who also had an unexpected gift for comedy.

Flynn was a hell-raiser in his personal life, drinking hard and often getting involved in fights.

Born in Tasmania, he settled in Hollywood at the height of its fame and became a naturalised American.

It seems strange that this adventurer should have had anything to do with the quiet Brighton suburb of Wooding-dean. But he did, because his parents moved late in life into a house on McWilliam Road.

Keith Jago, brought up in Woodingdean, says, “The closest to celebrity I have come in all my jobs was, ironically, the first paid job I ever had – earning half a crown every two weeks, cleaning a car.

“Quite how Errol Flynn’s parents came to spend their final days in Woodingdean, I don’t know.

“Mrs Flynn was a bustling elderly lady with big freckles. Theo, also known as The Professor, was tall, gaunt and somewhat sad, but a thinker. Heralding from Tasmania with broad Aussie accents, they were sweeties.

“I was 13, living in Wooding-dean and got the job through my best school-mate, whose dad ran the News Theatre in North Street. The car – a white Hillman Minx with red leather upholstery – was a four-door, deluxe model.

“It was easy enough to clean but the smell of dog from Pierrot, their massive French poodle, was everywhere. It was horrible and put me off dogs for years.”

After cleaning, Keith pumped the interior full of air-freshener, which left the sickly smell of simulated hyacinth everywhere.

He says, “Then came inspection by Mrs Flynn before I was paid, followed by tea and sand-wiches in the conservatory. That’s how I discovered who they were as they spoke lovingly of their son, Errol Flynn.”

The Flynns were said to have lived in Hove before settling in McWilliam Road, but there is no authenticated record of their son visiting them in England.

Ravaged through drink and drugs, Flynn died aged only 50 in 1960, before both of his parents.

Sadly Marelle Flynn died in 1966 after being knocked over by a bubble car while crossing Falmer Road to retrieve her dog. Theo, a marine biologist, died in 1968, Later their house was lived in by Dennis Hobden, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, and his wife Sheila. It was even named Sea Hawk after another one of Flynn’s popular movies.

Mrs Hobden told The Argus after Dennis had died, “The house was designed by the Flynns and was based on how their house in Tasmania looked. We bought it off a builder. He’d put up a few photographs of Errol which we’ve kept up in the hall.

“We do get a few people from time to time knocking on the front door asking if we knew of Errol Flynn’s links to our house. It is quite fun and it used to amuse Dennis that a movie star used to live here.”