Out & About

EVENT
Ideal Home Show
Every year, we spend hundreds of pounds improving and beautifying our homes and gardens. In a study conducted earlier this year, homeowners admitted lavishing, on average, between £1,231 (in the South East) and £2,653 (in Wales and the West) per year on DIY and home improvements.

This month, two major events - the Autumn Ideal Home Show at Earls Court in London from October 7-16 and the Ideal Home Show Scotland at the SECC in Glasgow from October 14-23 - aim to inspire visitors with a breathtaking array of interior design and innovation. The English event promises a wealth of attractions including a Christmas Ideas Theatre and an Interior Design Clinic including a free 15-minute consultation. Special guests, including interior designer Oliver Heath (BBC's Changing Rooms), chef Danny Boome (UKTV Food) and florist Rowena Johnson (ITV's Dial Mum), will be on hand to share the benefit of their knowledge.

In Scotland, the Scottish Furniture Makers Association showcases Scottish craft at its very best, while food and wine experts offer inspiration for a very merry Christmas. Television presenters Justin and Colin will be on hand to give advice, alongside Marianne Shillingford, Naomi Cleaver and Sandy Cadiz-Smith from House Beautiful Magazine, in the Noray Properties Masterclass Theatre. At both events, you can browse hundreds of exhibitor stands, full of beautiful new gadgets, furniture and home wares.

Tickets:
London: 0870 606 6080 or www.autumnidealhomeshow.co.uk

Glasgow: 0870 120 7020 or www.idealhomeshowscotland.co.uk

THEATRE
My Fair Lady
Trevor Nunn's new staging of the Lerner and Loewe musical My Fair Lady won an impressive three Olivier Awards (Outstanding Musical Production, Best Actress In A Musical and Best Choreography) during its London run, the first revival in the West End for more than 20 years. The spectacular staging embarks on a twelve-city UK tour this autumn, beginning at Manchester Palace Theatre (September 28-November 5), followed by visits to Birmingham Hippodrome (November 9-December 3) and Edinburgh Playhouse (December 6-January 7, 2006).

Boorish linguistics professor Henry Higgins (Christopher Cazenove) proudly boasts to his colleague Colonel Pickering (Stephen Moore) that he can transform a cockney flower girl from Covent Garden into a high society lady in just six months. The two men agree a wager and Higgins is introduced to Eliza Doolittle (Amy Nuttall and Lisa O'Hare, sharing the role), who wants to take language lessons with the professor. The flower girl is a willing and able pupil and quickly improves her posture, social etiquette and elocution under her mentor's watchful eye.

My Fair Lady features a toe-tapping score of unforgettable show tunes including "I Could Have Danced All Night", "I'm Getting Married In The Morning", "The Rain In Spain" and "Wouldn't It Be Loverly".

Tickets:
0870 401 3000 or www.getlive.co.uk

MUSIC
October Britten Festival
In 1948, composer Benjamin Britten co-founded The Aldeburgh Festival with Peter Pears and Eric Crozier, giving a home to their touring opera company, the English Opera Group. The small east coast fishing town of Aldeburgh celebrates this rich musical heritage each year with a Little Britten Weekend, showcasing works by Britten alongside relevant pieces by other composers, performed by singers and musicians of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and internationally renowned professional artists. This year's event begins on October 14 with a new production of Britten's opera Albert Herring, directed by Lindy Hume and conducted by Paul Kildea. Allan Clayton sings the demanding title role opposite Cerys Jones as Nancy and Peter McGillivray as Sid. The second day begins with the fast-rising Sacconi Quartet performing a programme of Schubert, György Kurtág and Britten, then a screening of Le Rosier De Madame Husson, the film on which Albert Herring was based.

A second airing of the opera is bookended by two performances of Albert's Lost Night, a devised musical theatre piece featuring performing arts degree students from Suffolk College, directed by Orpha Phelan.

Tickets:
01728 687110

ART
Degas, Sickert and Toulouse Lautrec: London and Paris 1870-1910
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists in Britain and France engaged in a create dialogue which led to a seminal period in the development of modern art. The Tate Britain in London celebrates this vibrant era in a major new exhibition, Degas, Sickert And Toulouse-Lautrec: London And Paris 1870-1910, which reflects the undeniable influence of French artists on these shores.

The show brings together more than 100 works - including approximately 20 apiece by Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec - including such iconic images as Degas's L'Absinthe, on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, which has not been displayed in the capital since the 19th century.

Distinctive paintings by the three title artists, characterized by their daring technique and use of colour, contrast with depictions of modern life by the likes of Pierre Bonnard, Henri Fantin- Latour, William Rothenstein, James Tissot, Edouard Vuillard and James Whistler.

The paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and sculpture are divided across four key sections dealing with the 1870s, 1880s, 1890s and finally a reflection on Degas and Toulouse- Lautrec's legacy. Curated by Anna Gruetzner Robins and Richard Thomson, Degas, Sickert And Toulouse-Lautrec: London And Paris 1870-1910 runs from October 5 until January 15, 2006 at the Tate Britain in London.

Tickets:
020 7887 8888 or www.tate.org.uk/tickets

ART
Rock 'n' Roll Icons: The photography of Mick Rock
Described as the "photo-laureate of glam", legendary photographer Mick Rock documented and defined the "70s with his striking images of rock artists such as David Bowie, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Lou Reed and The Sex Pistols. Urbis in Manchester celebrates the enduring popularity of the artist with the world premiere of his largest ever exhibition.

The fashionable four-storey arts venue is the only UK space to host this show from September 29 until January 8, 2006, prior to an international tour.

Rock N Roll Icons: The Photography Of Mick Rock juxtaposes over 150 images including private recordings, out-takes, previously unseen video footage and personal interviews with the rock legends. The show acknowledges Rock's status as the official photographer to Bowie's alter ego Ziggy Stardust: he shot the album cover for Space Oddity and was the creative genius behind the music video for Life On Mars.

A renewed interest in Rock's work, in the year's following his heart attacks and subsequent quadruple heart bypass, attest to his status as one of the few artists who have profoundly influenced contemporary culture today.

Tickets:
0161 605 8264