... Reprieve for animal circus By ERIC JOYCE DESPITE mounting local opposition and a vociferous lobby from councillors against alleged cruelty involved in presenting performing animal acts, Worthing Borough Council has agreed that circuses can continue not only in the town but at one of the council's prime venues, the Pavilion Theatre. Permission for the staging of three such events in any one ...

... MOD calls up Bob to Gulf By DIANE MASSEY BOB CAROLGEES never entertained anyone in a quarry before. Nor had he trained in chemical warfare garb as he had to before flying out for a two week CSE tour of the Middle East. Carolgees was one of the first asked by the MOD's entertainment division to bring a smile to the faces of British troops on standby to free Kuwait. He was flown back to Bnze ...

... Roadmender revived NORTHAMPTON'S live music venue the Roadmender Centre has been given a new lease of life eight months after a financial and management crisis forced it to bolt the doors. i ne iormer cnanry-run youtn centre has been revived by a joint rescue package put together by local authorities and backed by East Midlands Arts. It may now be heading for a new role as the town's arts ...

... King of the Viking COMEDIAN George King has been booked to host Blackpool Viking Hotel's Talk of the Coast's spring and summer line-ups next year. The Carleton-based comic, who is topping the Christmas show bill at the South Shore venue, last hosted the popular nightspot in 1987 when he took over from former frontman Jack Diamond. Having established itself as Blackpool's most popular year ...

... Fees drama THAT'S showbusiness, argued Leicester promoter Tim Farn this week as he admitted charging 270 per cent commission to hire a comedian for a corporate Christmas party, writes Helen Gould. Sheffield funnyman Bobby Knutt was booked by Dynamite Productions and Promotions to entertain staff of a tool hire firm, Cromwell Group Holdings, at a Leicester hotel over Christmas. But while he ...

... 'Blackpool will be tops' By ROBIN DUKE BLACKPOOL will be the circus capital of the world in 1991, says impresario Peter Jay. His prediction followed an announcement from First Leisure that the country's current circus king will be back at Blackpool Tower for the summer-as well as running the new season attraction on Pleasure Beach land at south J>hore. Circus fans from around the world ...

... Blackpool's Jenks closes BLACKPOOL'S only independent music venue has closed. Jenks Bar, on North Promenade, opposite the Metropole Hotel, has shut up shop after negotiations to renew its lease collapsed, says operator Trevor Robbins. Originally scheduled to open in December 1 989 on a short term nine month lease, with the option on a longer stay, a series of setbacks delayed the venue's ...

... Morleys in charge By BRIAN ATTWOOD ERIC and Julia Morley are back in sole charge of the Miss World contest after the company split this week from top local broadcaster Piccadilly Radio. Miss World joined forces with Piccadilly to form Trans World Communications when business was booming in 1 988 and the show was valued at almost £9 million. But two years without an appear ance on British ...

... Rhy1 Gaiety gets more time RHYL variety theatre, the Gaiety, has been granted a nine month stay of execution after developers announced that they are to stall demolition work until the autumn. Dorset leisure group Sea Life Centre (Holdings) Ltd plans to build a £1.5 million aquarium complex on the site 80-year-old venue Britain's last remaining concert party style theatre. Co-partners in the ...

... Women queue up for an eyeful WOMEN from all over South Wales arc queuing up for an eyeful of the American all-male strip act The Chippendales. Eight shows at Sawas Club in Usk were sold out within 48 hours of tickets going on sale, with hundreds of block bookings by groups of women. The act 18 hunky men who sing, dance and strip off to next-to-nothing has taken America by storm, starring in ...

... Sun set to shine in Skegness By HELEN GOULD SKEGNESS entertainment bosses are anticipating a boom year in 1991 despite a nationwide drop in audiences which was reported to have hit Britain's coastal resorts last summer. The trend prompted an in-depth local authority review of entertainment at Yorkshire's East Coast resorts this autumn. With the Audit Commission report into council arts ...

... Great escape for magician after motorway crash By STAGE REPORTER MAGICIAN Tom Orchante turned escapologist for his first act of the New Year and miraculously cheated death after a horrific motorway car crash. Orchante and his assis tant Cleo, alias Debbie Hardy, were travelling back from a New Year's Eve gig to Doncaster in the early hours of 1991 when their Ford Sierra hit black ice on the ...