THE revelation that King Arthur refers to living in Ribchester in the new blockbuster film about the legendary fighter had tourism bosses rubbing their hands with glee. But when Britain's national tourism body devised a movie map of places with film connections, Ribchester nearly missed out - after writers tried to say the village was in the Midlands! Chief reporter DAVID HIGGERSON reveals how the Evening Telegraph stepped in to save the day.

IT was the movie meant to put Ribchester well and truly on the map.

But when bosses came to draw up the map film-lovers would follow around the country, they managed to get Ribchester wrong -- 100 miles wrong.

And, had it not been for the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, film fans following the Visit Britain Movie Map to Ribchester would have ended up touring Birmingham's grey cityscape rather than Ribble Valley's rolling countryside.

Interest in Ribchester is set to soar after the new King Arthur movie, released last Friday, includes a reference by Arthur, played by Clive Owen, to having spent time at Ribchester, then known as Bremetennacum.

The film's take on Arthur is that he became a Roman soldier having originally fought against the empire as a Sarmation warrior, ignoring the belief that he was born in Cornwall before ruling the country from Camelot.

Once defeated, the Sarmations, believed possibly to have their roots in Eastern Europe and Iraq, were used in the second century AD to defend forts in the Northern-most part of the empire, and Ribchester was one of their bases.

The movie map features several Roman-related places to visit, along with details of other film locations -- although the fact part of the comedy Three Men And A Baby was filmed in part at Stonyhurst College seems to have been missed off.

The map will be used across the globe to try and encourage people to visit. The description for Ribchester reads: "The site of one of the largest Roman forts in the Midlands, Ribchester was also home to some 3,000 Sarmation cavalry who were stationed there for as long as 40 years.

"From here the Sarmation cavalry were posted to Hadrian's Wall. Their leader was Lucius Artorius Castus." He is believed to have been Arthur.

Brian Collis, Ribchester's local councillor and a former pub landlord in the village, said: "People do get confused about where Ribchester is. It has a Blackburn phone number, Preston phone code but is in the Ribble Valley.

"Until 1974, when Ribble Valley was created, most people considered Ribchester to be more with Preston and West Lancashire than the East.

"There's the confusion we normally get, but I don't think anyone else has ever put us in the Midlands before.

"Hopefully, this film link to Ribchester will bring in more visitors and help us to get someone to open a post office for us on the back of it."

When the Lancashire Evening Telegraph contacted Visit Britain, a spokesman said an initial print-run had already taken place. "But the main run has yet to be done and we will change it for then," said a spokesman. "We are grateful this has been pointed out to us and are trying to find out how it happened."