Tess of the D'urbervilles Savoy Theatre London

POP STAR Sir Cliff Richard's new single has been left off the schedules of the UK's most listened-to station. BBC Radio 2, which is trying to shed its golden oldies image, has not included his new song The Millennium Prayer on its playlists.

A MAN arrested by detectives investigating the murder of the television presenter Jill Dando was released without charge last night. It is understood that the man was arrested after a telephone tip-off from a member of the public.

Those quiffs, the clothes, the crazy times, man... Music fans with a nostalgic bent should beat a path to the National Portrait Gallery from Friday, where they will be treated to more than 50 classic images of British pop stars, caught in elegant repose by leading photographers including Jill Furmanovsky and Brian Aris. Seminal warblers such as Cliff Richard, Sandie Shaw, Helen Shapiro (right), The Beatles, David Bowie, The Clash and Duran Duran come face to face with contemporary images of pop stardom, including Robbie Williams, Jarvis Cocker and Cerys from Catatonia. Just count those pouts ...

The trouble with trebles is that, once you have completed the first two legs, it is tempting to think you are owed the third leg by virtue of having been so clever already. Consider the punter who had a treble with Ladbrokes yonks ago, betting that, by the year 2000, Cliff Richard would be knighted, an Englishman would have been world heavyweight boxing champion, and a female jockey would have won the Grand National. Before this year's National, he offered various trainers a handsome slice of his prospective pounds 70,000 winnings if only they would plonk a woman on a decent horse. And after getting the first two predictions right, he must have felt he deserved his treble.

JILL DANDO's family had wanted her funeral to be private, limited to those who knew her personally. But that could never be the case. She was too public a face for that.

"IT'S JUST like Princess Diana," was one comment reported from inside BBC Television Centre yesterday after Jill Dando's murder. And as tributes came in from sources as elevated as the Queen, the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and Sir Cliff Richard, an extraordinary sense of national mourning did seem to be taking shape.

I LAST saw Jill on Tuesday. Actually she saw me first. Someone pinched my bottom. I turned round and it was Jill, grinning. We chatted about her wedding. Everything was great. She had this new antiques programme starting. She was so relieved to be stopping Holiday. I think it had taken her a lot of time to build up to resigning but, once she had made the decision, there were no regrets. She was in high spirits. She was so looking forward to having her life back.

INCALCULABLE DAMAGE will be caused to London's royal parks by a series of concerts and shows this summer, a report suggests.

Local Radio: The comic creation Alan Partridge showed us the hell that is regional radio. But is it really like that? In fact, most of Britain's radios are tuned to provincial stations, and the people responsible for that success are the presenters. Michaacks down radio's local heroes

THE CAMBRIDGE Boat Race crew was rewarded for its winning efforts on Saturday with a huge silver Quaich presented by the sponsors.

LIONEL BART, "father of the modern British musical", died in London yesterday, age 68, after a long fight against cancer.

AS ONE of Gerry Anderson's chief puppeteers and puppet-makers, Christine Glanville saw the whole evolution of film and television puppetry and was at the heart of that development. She worked on almost all of the classic Anderson television series of the 1960s, including Stingray and Thunderbirds.

FA Cup quarter-finals: Derby manager still dreams of the ultimate prize despite a series of unfortunate setbacks