... Man with a mission at Watford Palace MICHAEL ATTENBOROUGH removed two tangerines from his brief case and snapped shut the lid. Do you mind if I eat them while we talk--I don't smoke. He neatly removed the skin from the fruit. AUDREY HENDERSON talks to Michael Attenborough the self-confessed calculated experimenter in charge of the Watford Palace Theatre He is a neat man. Very friendly, but ...

... Massive petition to save Gaumont A BIG campaign has been launched to save the Gaumont in Ipswich as one of East Anglia's largest live theatres. The Rank organisation, owners of the 1,600- seat theatre, have applied for a gaming licence and planning permission to use the Gaumont for bingo. News of Rank's plans has sparked a storm of protest from local people who see the move as a threat to live ...

... Spiralling artists' fees scare a top Midlands showman away from presenting live artists MOIRA PETTY reports BIRMINGHAM'S longestestablished club operator has resigned himself to dropping all live entertainment by the end of January. Eddie Fewtrell's chain of clubs, built up in the city since the early sixties, is currently reduced to two venues. Now Fewtrell has placed the Cedar Club on the ...

... Recession bites in Southampton SOUTHAMPTON'S leading cabaret room nightclub, Sextons, has drawn the curtains on live entertainment because of the economic recession. The club has been presenting cabaret acts on Thursdays, Fridays and Satur days and has built up a reputation in the local entertainment scene. But new proprietor June Sexton said the club has to axe cabaret for at least a few ...

... Militants call for clamp-down on unlicensed agents THE DEPARTMENT of Employment has come under fire from militant agents who are considering action which has been vetoed by their own official representative body. Epping-based agent Tony Baxtei claims that the DOE is con spicuously failing to clamp down on unlicensed agents and he added thai the Department expected agents tc do all the ...

... Cabaret 'risk' at new Filey venue MOIRA PETTY reports A MAJOR LIVE entertainment development in the small Yorkshire town of Filey marks the most important venture to date for a new local agency. More than £20,000 is being ploughed into a former cinema at Filey to turn it into a mini version of the Wakefield Theatre Club, with a year-long policy of cabaret attractions. When the Brig Theatre Bar ...

... UN blacklist for S Africa visits MOIRA PETTY reports SHOWBUSINESS STARS who work in South Africa may find themselves on a blacklist compiled by the United Nations. The announcement, made in London last week by the chair man of the UN's apartheid com mittee, could draw top stage names into the political con troversy now engulfing the sports world. The list of personalities who have ap peared in ...

... Virgin boss Branson buys his way into Heaven VIRGIN RECORDS boss Richard Branson has bought himself a slice of Heaven for a cool half a million pounds. And although the West End disco will continue to operate as a meeting place for the capital's gays, Branson is cur-, rently engaged in discussions with one of the leading figures on the London alternative cabaret scene. He is Richard Strange, ...

... Permanent home for Times club MOIRA PETTY reports THE TIMES CLUB at Stevenage has moved into its first permanent home following an 18-year battle for land in the rapidly developing new town. And the plush £200,000 new building is just 400 yards from the social club's original tem porary site. The organisation ran into problems soon after its formation in 1960 when it discovered that land in ...

... Orpheus in the Underworld SINGERS COMPANY PETER KNAPP's updating of Offenbach's parody of Orpheus presented by the Singers Company at Sadler's Wells, brings us predictably into the night-club world. Eurydice in Hades puts over a forthright number at the mike and Pluto introduces her with typical compere over-enthusiasm. talk |okes about smokeless fuel and Sherlock Holmes sweep us unashamedly ...

... Miniature Offenbach version SINGERS COMPANY La Perichole THE SINGERS Company at Sadler's Wells presented a miniature version of Offenbach's La Perichole, with a chamber orchestra of a dozen (including piano and electric piano) and a single, simple setting with screens and chairs. ll lame uvci wun a ixuaiu iiiuucm, ai- tificial charm in Peter Knapp's produc tion, which had plenty of ...

... New era as Wakefield renamed the Pussycat THE NEW OWNERS of the Wakefield Theatre Club hope to maintain it as a prestige venue--but with none of the star name big splashers of its heyday. When the club which has hosted names such as Jack Jones and Johnny Mathis reopens next month, it will join a group of Yorkshire venues which pro vide a thriving mini-circuit for MOR cabaret acts. The three ...