A tight 5: January 23

MRS BROWN’S BOYS creator Brendan O'Carroll has been named Ireland’s philanthropist of the year. The Community Foundation for Ireland gave him the honour for his donations to causes such as the anti-poverty charity Society of St Vincent de Paul, which he says supported his widowed mother of 11 50 years ago, and Irish Autism Action.

NOEL FIELDING’s paintings are to adorn the walls of the Royal Albert Hall. Surreal portraits of The Beatles and Elvis Presley as well as ‘more experimental’ works such as Bubblegum Cat at the Cinema will be on display on the ground floor corridor to audiences seeing shows from March 4 to 17. There will also be open days on March 6 (11am to 4pm) and March 7, 14 and 15 (10am to 1pm) when anyone can view the work.

KERRY HERBERT, who organises the Charity Chuckle comedy nights in Brighton, has won the nationwide Venus Award for best home-based business. Herbert, who also runs a company called Stand-Up Marketing, scooped the award for female entrepreneurs at a ceremony in Basingstoke today. It comes after she won the Brighton and Sussex regional award in September.

CARRY ON star Jim Dale is to perform a one-man show in London’s West End. Just Jim Dale, in which he recounts stories of his show business life, will be on at the Vaudeville Theatre for three weeks from May 26 – 50 years since he first performed at the venue in the musical The Wayward Way. Dale, who starred in 11 Carry On movies, perviously performed the show off Broadway in New York.

JOHN LEGUIZAMO is to star in in the American comedy pilot Taxi-22. The actor will play a ‘politically incorrect’ New York cab driver in the CBS comedy, according to Hollywood website Deadline. The show is based on the French Canadian series Taxi 0-22.

Published: 23 Jan 2015