In the Belfast home where Bernard MacLaverty was raised, there were cigarette burns in the stair carpet. The bright pattern meant the marks were barely noticeable, but even as a child MacLaverty was in the business of noting. In the 1940s his father ran a chain of cinemas. “He would rescue bits of carpets and bring them back to the house. There were big cigarette burns in them but the pattern was so bold that you never noticed these things.” A cousin, “Uncle Hughie”, was hired as the projectionist, and Bernard would knock on the door to be smuggled into the balcony.
Source: Projections from the past and the heart | Scotland | The Sunday Times