It has been hailed as the greatest British film ever, but it has now emerged The Third Man might never have been made had it not been for the writing skills of a lowly studio secretary.

When the film director Carol Reed was sent the unpublished story that would eventually become the classic screen noir he tossed the copy over to his secretary, stating that he did not have time to read it.

Fortunately the young Joyce Hedger was able to produce such a gripping summary of Graham Green’s novella that Reed was hooked, and decided to take on the project – casting Orson Welles as the post-war black marketeer Harry Lime.

But there were further hurdles to overcome before the film could be completed, such as when Welles stormed off the set of the famous Vienna sewers scene, because he did not want to wait for Reed to arrive.