CREDITS SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS, 1960 dir: Robert Hamer Ian Carmichael Alastair Sim Terry-Thomas Janette Scott Dennis Price Peter Jones

“Just remember, if you're not one up on the other fellow, then he's one up on you.”

Forget the recent remake, this is the real thing – classic comedy from a time when cast of British stalwarts could make it all look so easy. Mild-mannered loser Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael) takes lessons in one-upmanship from the cynical Mr Potter (Alastair Sim) in this film adaptation of Stephen Potter’s books, from the director of Kind Hearts and Coronets.

The railway station at which Palfrey alights on his way to Potter's College of Lifemanship is supposed to be ‘Yeovil, Somerset’. It's actually much closer to the studio than the West Country. The station, pretty much unchanged today, is Hertford East, Hertfordshire.

School For Scoundrels location: ëYeovil Stationí, supposedly in the West Country: Hertford East Station, Hertfordshire

The Edgwarebury Hotel, Edgwarebury Lane, off Barnett Lane, Elstree, became the tennis club where Palfrey is embarrassed by his wonderfully clunky Swiftmobile, before turning the tables on caddish Raymond Delauney (Terry-Thomas).

A movie favourite, the hotel has been seen in 1939’s Sons of the Sea, with Leslie Banks, the rather dated 1971 Agatha Christie mystery Endless Night, the 1970s black comedy Hawks, (with ER’s Anthony Edwards and Bond-to-be Timothy Dalton), Hide and Seek (1963), Not Now Comrade and, most memorably, Hammer’s The Devil Rides Out.

School For Scoundrels location: the tennis club: Edgwarebury Hotel, Elstree

Palfrey’s apartment is on the top floor of the splendidly named (and virtually unchanged) Thurlby Croft, Mulberry Close, off Parson Street, Hendon, London NW4 (top picture).

School For Scoundrels location: Henry Palfrey is sold the amazing Swiftmobile

The car showroom, at which Dunston and Dudley (Dennis Price and Peter Jones) sell Henry the terrific Swiftmobile, still exists, though the business – strangely – no longer stocks that particular model. It’s Colin Collins, 90-108 Pinner Road, Harrow (now a Hyundai dealership) in Middlesex.