Sir Alec Guinness starred in the first Stratford Festival in 1953

Original Toronto Star caption: Sir Alec Guinness starred in the first Stratford Festival in 1953. ''It was a miracle it ever happened,'' he says today. ''We rehearsed in a dreadful tin-roofed hall?every bird in the world flew in and twittered, every raindrop which fell crashed loudly on the roof. That the production and the theatre were ever ready was due largely to an act of faith.'' Sir Alec reminisced about that first season this week in Chichester, England, where he is appearing in Chichester Festival.