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Your support makes all the difference.Think Cavern, think Beatles in most people's mind. At the mention of the venue's name, black-and-white footage immediately begins to whirr, featuring four young `n' cheeky moptops (left) crammed in the corner of a dingy basement, belting out the songs the whole world would soon be singing. But, there's more to the Cavern's story than that illustrious chapter of pop history, and, to mark the historic club's 40th birthday, the other bands and artists who contributed to the city's enviable musical legacy will be put in the spotlight. Ex-Pacemaker Gerry Marsden will unveil the Cavern Wall of Fame outside the club this Thursday - the names of the 1,801 bands and artists who played there between 1957 and 1973 have been etched on individual bricks - along with a statue of the city's most celebrated son, the boy Lennon.
The Cavern, Liverpool (0151-236 9091), Thur 12noon
EVENING CLASS
Autumn is traditionally the time for evening-class enrolment. By Christmas, most people have usually mastered the basics of cake-decorating, decided they'll never have a use for fluent Flemish, or have discovered a really interesting programme on telly on the same night. The New Year is, of course, the time to try it all again. For Bristol residents it could change the way you look at evening classes, and at the cinema. The Watershed is offering a six-part course, entitled Star Gazing, on the phenomenon of stardom in the movies, beginning on Wednesday. Watershed Media Centre, Bristol (0117-925 3845)
POETRY This year's TS Eliot prize for poetry will be awarded after a star-studded reading at the Almeida Theatre, London N1 (0171-359 4404) tomorrow at 7pm. Among the shortlisted poets: Ciaran Carson, Seamus Heaney, Adrian Mitchell and Susan Wicks and Maura Dooley.
MULTI-MEDIA
Pop lyrics, videos, sculpture, and, er, paper doilies are just some of the artistic responses to questions of culture, religion and society on view at Popoccultural, which features works by Chris Ofili, Jeremy Celler, Simon Periton and Jason Fax. Southampton City Art Gallery (01703 632601), Fri to 6 Apr
FILM
The NFT's major Howard Hawks retrospective is up and running already, but this week there's a unique chance to experience a 1945 version of The Big Sleep (left). It promises an extra 18 minutes of footage, previously unseen by the humble public; more Bogie and less Bacall; and major changes to the famously impenetrable, noirish plot. No prizes for gesticulating madly each time you notice something missing from the 1946 release version. After each screening, Bob Gitt from UCLA - where the early version was recently discovered - will take the audience through the changes during a 40-minute "spot-the-difference" film presentation.
NFT, London (0171-928 3232), tonight 7pm, tomorrow 5pm. pounds 8/ pounds 5.40
ART
Peter Blake (above), the creator of the classic, and much-copied, sleeve for The Beatle's Sgt Pepper album, has been growing old in some illustrious company. The exhibition of recent work by Britain's Pop Artist par excellence, inspired by two years at home with the Old Masters while he was installed as the National Gallery's Associate Artist, has proved a critical and popular success, and a selection from the endearingly- titled Now We Are 64 is currently on view in Manchester.
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (0161 275 7450), today to 9 Mar
EVENT
The history of Western scientific thought could have been totally different had Newton sat under a tree in Somerset, for there are apple- eating demons in them trees in the deepest, darkest West Country. Apparently. Still, the annual ritual - involving gunmen, a bonfire, and some toast - to scare off the little blighters sounds like quite an intriguing, and noisy, spectacle. And, let's face it, sometimes an excuse is needed for a good old, drink-sodden knees-up. Although this one sounds like it was concocted after the scrumpy had been quaffed. Wassailing the Apple Trees, Carhampton,Somerset. Fri 8pm
MIME
The month-long London International Mime Festival, combining the best in visual and physical theatre with some old-fashioned circus clowning, and irresistible cabaret showcases, is a bumper (possibly invisible) box of delights. Highlights this week include the darkly medieval The Last Hallucinations of Lucas Cranach from the Belgian ensemble Mossoux Bonte (right).
Purcell Room (0171 960 4242), tonight to Tue 8pm. Festival information (0171-637 5661)
SMOKE
What have Harold Wilson (right), Rod Hull, Ian Botham, Eric Morecambe got in common? They're all past Pipesmokers of the Year, a coveted award conferred in recognition of services, beyond the call of duty, to the blessed weed. 1997's lucky old puffer is writer and academic Malcolm Bradbury, and members of the pipe-smoking fraternity are welcome to attend the award ceremony and charity lunch at the Savoy on Wednesday. Info and tickets,The Pipesmokers' Council (0171-241 6950)
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