My second month of work on The Oxford Times - in July 1973 - was brightened by Barbara Jefford's memorable performance as Portia in Frank Hauser's production of The Merchant of Venice. Since then I have enjoyed many hundreds of visits to the theatre, usually 'on duty' as a critic. On none of them, I now realise, have I seen Ms Jefford again.

I was surprised to discover, from reading Giles Woodforde's interview with the actress in last week's Weekend, that the 1973 Playhouse Summer Festival - in which she also played Mrs Dearth in J.M.Barrie's Dear Brutus - featured her last performances there until this week.

What a pleasure it is, then, to savour her important contribution to Sir Peter Hall's production of Pygmalion (reviewed on Page 6) with a serene portrait of Mrs Higgins. Don't miss it.

The third offering of the 1973 festival, was Ferenc Molnar's The Wolf. This starred Leo McKern (Shylock in The Merchant), Judi Dench and Edward Woodward (of whom the great Coral Browne once memorably said: "Edward Woodward - sounds like a fart in the bath.") Next week, Edward's son Timothy is acting at the Playhouse in Malcolm McKay's Forgotten Voices. Seeing the publicity shot, I noted that the dashing young hero of the 1970s TV series Wings now has something of Captain Mainwaring about him. No comments, please, about my own deterioration over the same period.