Alain and Antoine Carabinier, James Bannon, James Rhodes, Zandra Rhodes

Midweek

Libby Purves meets circus performers Alain and Antoine Carabinier; former police officer James Bannon; pianist James Rhodes and fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.

Father and son Alain and Antoine Carabinier are members of Cirque Alfonse, a Canadian company which was formed in Quebec. They are performing at London's Southbank Centre in their show, Timber!, which is inspired by the remote forests where the family is based. Highlights of the show include axe juggling and stunts with lumberjack saws all set to traditional music from Quebec. Timber! is at Southbank Centre, London.

James Bannon is a former police officer who went undercover as a hooligan to infiltrate Millwall Football Club back in the late Eighties. His book, Running with the Firm, tells of his experiences inside one of English football's most brutal and fearless gangs. He has since gone on to become an actor and a stand-up comedian. Running With The Firm is published by Ebury.

James Rhodes is a classical pianist who has made a name for himself by performing in non-traditional classical venues. For a Channel 4 documentary, Notes from the Inside, he takes his piano into a psychiatric hospital, where he spent time himself, to perform for the patients. Notes from the Inside is part of Mad4Music, a classical music season on Channel 4. He is also playing at the Latitude Festival and at London's Soho Theatre.

Zandra Rhodes is one of Britain's best-known fashion designers who helped put London at the forefront of the international fashion scene in the 1970s. To celebrate ten years of London's Fashion and Textile Museum - which she founded - she has created a new exhibition, Unseen. Through sketches, designs and garments, the exhibition shows how she has experimented with colour, print and fabric - as well as with her own image - over the last fifty years.

Producer: Annette Wells.