It is 60 years since Alan Barnes uttered the words that would see him forever linked to a village in Lancashire and a curious tale about a wanted killer who is mistaken for Jesus Christ, which went on to become a British film classic.
Cast alongside Alan Bates and a young Hayley Mills in celebrated actor Brian Forbes' directorial debut, Whistle Down The Wind, it is one of his lines that is still the most quoted from the production.
In a scene where he is pushed by his father, played by James Bond actor Bernard Lee, to reveal who the man is that he and his siblings are hiding, he replies: "It isn't Jesus, it's just a fella."
Looking back, he admits he had no idea of the impact the film would have or that he would be so well remembered.
In fact, as he says: "We didn't really know what we were doing."
"I was a real innocent," Mr Barnes says.
"Brian Forbes and [the film's producer] Richard Attenborough turned up at our school and I ended up going home in Richard Attenborough's Bentley.
"My mother must have dropped through the floor."
The film was shot in the village of Downham, the shadow of the county's famous Pendle Hill, and used several local children, who had little acting experience, in its cast.
Mr Barnes says the auditions were very informal.
"They read us a story... and watched our reactions," he says.
"Why they picked us, I don't know.
"We were just fortunate, I suppose."
Diane Poole, who played the third child in the lead family, says the children really did not know what was happening when the film crews arrived.
"Our headteacher at the time said: 'Two men will be coming to look at you playing in the playground - just ignore them and carry on'."
Whistle Down The Wind
- Based on a novel by Mary Hayley Bell, the mother of the film's lead Hayley Mills, Whistle Down The Wind tells the story of three children from a remote farm in the North of England who mistake a wanted killer for Jesus Christ
- It was released in July 1961 and went on to be nominated for four Baftas, including Best British Actress for Mills
- The film was adapted into a musical in 1996 by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman. No Matter What, a song from it, was released by Boyzone two years later and reached number one in the UK
- In 2020, the British Film Institute included it in its list of "50 films to see before you're 15"
Ms Poole says Forbes and Attenborough had a camera, but "we didn't know what it was, lens... and I think they did just a short list of possibilities".
She also admits the locally-sourced cast had no clue at the time about the young lead's already glittering career.
"We didn't really know who Hayley Mills was," she says.
"We never went the cinema like children do now.
"We didn't know who anybody was, so we were not awestruck, which probably helped us [and] Hayley was really lovely with us."
Mr Barnes says his sense of luck at being chosen was not one that he always felt on set.
He says one scene involved his character being struck around the head and "I remember we did 10 takes".
"Every time, it just got harder and harder," he says.
Ms Poole says she recalled what happened too.
"I remember Alan had tears in his eyes in the scene where he was being punished," she says.
"I wanted to go over to him, but they wouldn't let me."
Despite that, she says the film was "great for us".
"It has played a big part in my life," she says.
"It is surprising how many people say [it] is a favourite of theirs."
Author Neil Brandwood, who has written a book celebrating the film on its 60th anniversary, is one of those people.
He says he "must have been about 16 when I first saw it on TV [and] I just thought it was wonderful".
Its enduring appeal comes from the fact it "was really gritty and wasn't pretty pretty", Mr Brandwood believes.
"It was like seeing the world through a child's eyes - it wasn't precocious children, it was almost like a kitchen sink drama."
He says despite its age, the film still has the power to pull in an audience.
"I played it recently to a class of primary children," he adds.
"When you bear in mind it is black and white, 60 years old with no special effects, they were absolutely entranced by it.
"I think that's a hallmark of a really good film."
And as for that immortal line, Mr Barnes says it is not the only one he hears when people find out he was in the film.
"People have quoted lots of lines to me for years," he says.
"Everyone says the same ones.
"I also often get 'you rotten cow'."
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