Flying high

Copy Cary Grant and fly North by Northwest. For around �200 the airline (Northwest) will whisk you from Chicago to Rapid City, South Dakota - just a stone's throw from the Mount Rushmore Memorial. It's presumably against park bylaws to battle evil foreign spies on the 60-foot high faces carved into the mountain.

Art stopping

If the Hitchcock birds that interest you are culture vultures, head for Oxford's Museum of Modern Art. The gallery is hosting Notorious, a show examining the impact the director has had on art.

Big screen thrills

You may have seen his films on TV, but have you had the big screen experience? Hitch's chilling 1951 masterpiece Strangers on a Train returns to cinemas to mark the great man's birthday. The National Film Theatre in London is holding a gala opening on spooky Friday the 13th of August. Two of the film's stars, Farley Granger and Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell, Hitch's daughter, will give a talk after the screening.

Capital Gainsborough

For an afternoon of nostalgia, visit the Gainsborough Studios, where Hitch made his early classics. Billed as "The Ultimate Hitchcock Exhibition", even those cool on the director will relish exploring the building on Poole Street, Hoxton, London - once the Mecca of the British film industry.

Seen in scene

Make a Hitchcock-style cameo. Even if you don't have any acting experience, you stand a good chance of getting in front of the camera as an extra. You'll have to register with a specialist agency. As "third soldier on train" or "woman in hat" you can expect around �60 for a nine-hour day.

Go East!

Plan a pilgrimage to Leytonstone, east London. The Hitchcock home is now a petrol station; and the police station where Hitch had a taste of incarceration is also gone. The local boy is celebrated at the Vestry House Museum in nearby Walthamstow. Its "From Leytonstone to Hollywood" exhibition chronicles Hitch's formative years.

Run for the hills!

The 39 Steps sees Robert Donat board the Flying Scotsman pursued by a vicious spy ring. Sadly the ageing loco seldom runs, but you can follow the trail. Modern trains for Scotland leave King's Cross in London every hour. It is not recommended that you jump out after crossing the Forth Bridge - or even beforehand.

High drama

Dizzy or seeing double? Experience Vertigo. Check out the San Francisco locations of the 1958 film. Try Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, where Kim Novak plunged into the icy sea. Novak also falls from the mission bell tower in San Juan Bautista, south of the city. The tower - impressive in the film - was actually a special effect. Up the coast is Bodega Bay, the setting for The Birds. Only the schoolhouse, which Hitch saved from the bulldozers, survives today.