Review: First Call, Last Call

First Call

NOW FOR SOMETHING a little different, as TV's cookery queen, Fern Britton, dons the touring wheels this month for the Ready Steady Cook Stage Show. Celebrated chefs including Antony Worrall Thompson (right) and Brian Turner are set to give masterclasses, the intricate details of which will be projected onto large screens. Following an opportunity for questions, the finale is the famed 20- minute culinary quest, where a pounds 5 shopping budget has to provide the raw ingredients for an audience volunteer and a celebrity chef to create cordon bleu cuisine.

Venue and ticket information available on 01285 654563; 30 Apr to 19 Jun

Last Call

LIVE SHOWS by ex-drug smuggler and Oxford renegade Howard Marks are guaranteed to be atmospheric. Marks, who has just announced that he will stand for the Welsh Assembly, claims to have been responsible for smuggling one- tenth of the world's cannabis for the best part of two decades. Since his release from a US jail, Marx has forged a new identity as a maverick author and supporter of the pro-cannabis legalisation campaign, which he will no doubt discuss at these gigs.

Borderline, London W1 (0171-734 2095) 31 Mar and 1 Apr