IN 1993 I took up dancing and became good very quickly. Dancing gave me my life back and I wanted to give the gift of dancing back to the community. Orod Ohanians, who runs the not-for-profit Expressions Studios which offers dancing lessons for the elderl

IN 1993 I took up dancing and became good very quickly. Dancing gave me my life back and I wanted to give the gift of dancing back to the community.

Orod Ohanians, who runs the not-for-profit Expressions Studios which offers dancing lessons for the elderly and disabled but faces closure because of recent rates increases.

Dame Doris would make me sound like a pantomime horse. Also, what's the point of being a Dame of the British Empire when there's no empire left?

Doris Lessing (pictured right) who became the oldest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 88 last year, explains why she wanted to be nothing like a Dame, and turned down the chance to be honoured.

I am incredulous about the way people will knock something just because it's popular, just because it isn't to their taste. If you work really hard - and I've worked hard all my life - a certain amount of respect should be accorded to people who do that, who've stuck at their craft, whether you like what they do or not.

Singer Michael Ball will be starring at Kenwood next month with Lesley Garrett.

It's got to the stage now where traffic is every bit as heavy as it would have been if Ernie Marples had succeeded in his plan to turn Highgate High Street into the main artery for all traffic heading north from London back in the 1960s.

Highgate Society chairman Gordon Forbes, reacting to a spate of recent road accidents in the village.

I potter around Waterlow Park, feel inspired, go to Highgate Garden Centre, buy plants, attack the garden, collapse, then go to The Red Lion and Sun to discuss how long it will be before the slugs eat the plants.

Children's author Helen Bailey explaining in this week's Who's Who column how she spends her free time.