GLASGOW has been described as 'Britain's second film-making hub after London - and with good reason.

Take 2011. The 17-day shooting in Glasgow of scenes from Brad Pitt's World War Z gave the city economy a £3.33million lift.

Other productions included the films Cloud Atlas and Under The Skin, and TV's Young James.

Overall, £20.15m was brought in that year by film, broadcast and advertising productions. The Glasgow Film Office received 311 location enquiries in 2011, and 225 productions were shot in the city.

In 2008, 181 film and TV efforts raked in over £17m.

Back in the silent era, several short-lived companies worked in and around Glasgow. The first version of Rob Roy was filmed in a tram depot south of the city at Rouken Glen in 1911.

In nearby Thornliebank, The Ace Film Producing Company made one feature, The Harp King (1919). Their studio was later said to be the first in Scotland.

Scottish Film Productions, set up in the city centre's India Street in 1928, specialised in non-feature films such as shorts, newsreels and documentaries.

In 1936 the first edition of Things That Happen, their monthly magazine-film for Glasgow cinemas, opened with footage of what was said to be the Loch Ness Monster.

Many years later, the cameraman admitted that the shots had been faked ... on Loch Lomond.

Madeleine (1950), directed by David Lean, told the story of the alleged poisoning by Madeleine Smith of her lover, Emile l'Angelier, in 1857. Some of it was filmed in Blythswood Square, the scene of the actual events.

Ronnie Corbett made his screen debut in You're Only Young Twice (1952), a comedy about an election for a university rector. Some of it was shot on location at Gilmorehill.

In the Ealing Studios' The Maggie (1954, pictured) the puffer of the title enters the Clyde only to strike a city Underground tunnel.