... Vocalist David McLaine celebrated this week after Pontin's named him as their Carberet Act of the Year. McLaine (centre) received his award at Pontin's Sandbay resort from the company's entertainment executive Jim Kennedy (second left). Also pictured are Sandbay's assistant entertainment manager Adey Ramsel (right) and bluecoats Lynsey Palmer and Tracey Mullins. ...

... IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND Peter Egan will be playing alongside the little people of Lilliput when he takes on the lead role in Simon Eastwood's dramatisation of Gulliver's Travels for Radio 3. The play is broadcast at 9pm on November 13, 250 years after the death of author Jonathan Swift. ...

... ARCHERS' BIRTHDAY COLOURS Cast members and celebrity fans mingled at the English Speaking Union last week to celebrate the 44th birthday of long running radio soap. The Archers. Here actress Margot Boyd, who plays Mrs Antrobus, takes a few fashion hints from the colourful Zandra Rhodes. ...

... PAINTINGS ON VIEW Theatrical paintings collected by Somerset Maugham go on display at the Theatre Museum in London's Tavistock Street from February 7. Samuel De Wilde's portrait of Charles Farley (1771-1859) as Fransisco in Thomas Holcroft's A Tale of Mystery is pictured above. ...

... Picture: Tristram Kenton Helen Atkinson Wood, David Cardy and Liza Hayden in Penny Blue at the Greenwich Theatre ...

... EYE EYE, WE'VE REACHED THE 500 MARK! Photo: Mike Kwasniak. Eye Theatre in Suffolk celebrated Its 500th performance this week, four years after it first opened its doors. It will be hosting a production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Tom Scott. And this Saturday, the company will be performing an open air version of the show at Eye Castle, the first ever production to be staged there. ...

... the British Red Cross celebrate its 125th birthday at Highbury football ground. ...

... KNIFE TO SEE YOU Former soap stars Jean Alexander and Bill Dean in Radio 4's wickedly witty comedy How to Murder Your Husband. It tells the story of pensioner Fio and her comic attempts to add a little spice to her life. Which include plotting to kill her husband. ...

... WATCH OUT - IT'S 'THE TAFFIA!' Picture: Alan McCrone As Pickwick the Musical heads for its Welsh premiere in Swansea, the city prepares to welcome a cast of home grown talent. sir Harry Secombe and Ruth Marloc both hail frome the arena while co-star Glyn Houston was born in the Rhondda Valley Valley. The trio have been nicknamed 'The Traffia' by company manager Michael Thorne. ...

... LEVITATIONAL PULL Illusionist Nick Spellman helps singer Alison Williams top up her tan near the Pavilion Theatre in Cromer, Norfolk, where the pair are appearing in Seaside Special 95. ...

... Crying Victory Some of the north's top light entertaintainment talent gathered in Leeds recently for the final of the annual Tetley Talent Hunt. In a close fought contest victory went to three piece band crying out Loud (pictured above) Who narrowly outpointed Paul Boardman a comic following firmly in the footsteps of his dad. Scouse stand -up Stan Paul is pictured below with one of the ...

... Picture: Tristram Kenton Gemma Jones and Anthony O'Donnell in Dance of Death at the Almeida. ...