I love my job!  And one of the aspects of my work that I really enjoy is when I get the chance to get out of the studio and perform to a live audience be it performing, compering or running vocal workshops.  I recently had the chance to work with the Royal Opera House at Thameside Junior School to launch the opening of their new library and help them celebrate World Book Day.  I delivered a series of poetry readings to children and families from well-loved authors.  It was great fun and Executive Head, Mark Jones was kind enough to say; ‘Thanks to Royal Opera House Creative Partnerships, the magic of Roald Dahl came to Thameside Junior School, as Beverley Beer brought to life some well-known favourites, including those by the well-known children’s author’.  And a jolly good time was had by all!

Well, the world of VO’s is a competitive one, but no-one in the industry could fail to be moved by the story of Ted Williams, or, as he is now known “Golden Voice”. He was an ex-radio announcer who had fallen on hard times and, through one reason or another, found himself living in a homeless shanty at the side of the interstate in Ohio.  A reporter ‘re-discovered’ him, gave him $1 to video him and brought him to the world’s attention.  Good luck Golden Voice, everyone deserves a second chance!

Drama, Biography/Memoir, History, Classic and more. With last year’s Audio Book of the Year winner being a combination of Mandela’s favourite African folk tales and featuring such vocal celebs as Gillian Anderson, Forest Whitaker, Whoopi Goldberg, Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman (to name but a few of the spangly vocal firmament), I fear it’ll be some time before I have an “Audie” of my very own.

So the poor old DCMS has had it’s budget slashed by £0.8bn, which means the Arts Council are going to have to find 30% cuts in all. In a time when everyone is having to tighten their belts it’s understandable, but sad. I visited the London Film Museum at the weekend and was staggered to see just how many thriving film studios we still have in the UK, all producing films which I had assumed were made in America (Mission Impossible, Elizabeth, the Potter series, to name but a few) – and it underlines what a power our little island is in the global creative market.

Obviously, this is just one aspect of Britains vast artistic and cultural output (as a freelance artist, I’m at the opposite end of the scale) but all are equally important and essential to keeping Britain’s iconic cultural status intact. I’m not saying the arts are MORE important than other key areas that have also suffered swingeing cuts, but they are AS important to the mental health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of people across the UK and far beyond.

Who’d of thought it, Les Miserables has been running for 25 years and has apparently given over 45,000 performances. I have to confess to being an avid musical theatre fan and Les Mis is one of the most epic and iconic there is and with a host of stars like Michael Ball, Lea Salonga, Colm Wilkinson, Alun Armstrong and Ruthie Henshall appearing in it over the years – it’s not surprising it’s a quality vintage. There’s going to be a 25 year concert, although, the 10 year concert featuring all of the above will take some beating (no one belts like Ruthie…..although I give it a good go!). Congrats Les Mis, here’s to another 25 years!

There’s going to be a new BBC4 series coming soon called “The Beauty of Old Books” http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/the-beauty-of-old-books/. Not much is known about it at the mo (I don’t know if it’s in an early production stage, or if BBC4 are just being cagey), but as a self-confessed bibliophile, I’m looking forward to it already.

Had tea and cake at the London Review Bookshop recently (http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/) it had the most AMAZING array of cakes and was such a lovely environment, it felt good for the soul and the taste buds! No…I’m not on commission, just on a mission to find (and share) good teashops in London.