I was a panto snob UNTIL...

I saw Sooty in action. In fact, I never really rated panto at all until I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in one - as the Wicked Queen in Snow White, at Stoke on Trent about five years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it - never had such a laugh. What's more, it was the first time I ever saw Sooty live on stage. And he was absolute magic.

Someone else who's magic, and busy in panto this season is Paul Daniels, who with his lovely wife, BBC Radio Berkshire's Debbie McGee, is doing panto (look, they're behind you!) in Redhill, Surrey. Debbie came on my programme this afternoon to talk about the magic of panto. Paul plays King Crumble (who does the odd bit of magic, I gather) and Debbie is Fairy Organic. Green and expensive. How their characters fit into Jack and The Beanstalk, I have no idea. But how Sooty played a pivotal role in the story of Snow White was a mystery too.

It's all the magic of panto.