Oh, yes it is! Sorry. Panto catchphrases are perilously close to the surface this week. I have just met Jon Conway and Nick Thomas, who together make up Qdos Entertainment, and are responsible for 27 pantomimes all over the United Kingdom.

While the West End suffers from a recession and fear of anthrax attacks, the regions are preparing for a bonanza: Qdos claims that advance bookings are already pound;750,000 up. So, from Aladdin in Darlington, to Cinderella in Milton Keynes, and Snow White in Cardiff, the stars are limbering up.

There are some strange bedfellows - Julian Clary and Postman Pat in Richmond for Cinderella, and Linda Lusardi and Sooty at Cardiff, for instance. There will, sadly, be no real cows in Jack and the Beanstalk, however. A heifer called Phoenix nearly got to hoof it onstage, but her owners were concerned about her welfare. And, after all, nobody wants a star-struck beef-machine, do they?

Stars sometimes make a serious Christmas contribution, though. David Bowie is among those who have designed cards for Crusaid to raise money for Aids victims - more than 11 million children have lost their mothers to the disease worldwide. Choose cards on www.crusaid.org.uk or phone 020 7833 3939 for a catalogue.

But there are other anniversaries to mark before Christmas. The National Theatre has been settled on the South Bank for 25 years this week. In Rehearsal at the National (Oberon Books, pound;19,99) is a compendium of photographs covering the years 1976 to 2001, with revealing captions and an introduction by the present artistic director, Trevor Nunn. Examples range from John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson in Pinter’s No Man’s Land in 1976, to Martine McCutcheon in this year’s My Fair Lady. Ian Holm, playing King Lear in 1997, cuts through the anxieties of anyone studying the play as a set text: “It’s not that difficult, to be honest. He’s a bit impulsive, gives up all his land and then he goes mad. It’s quite easy really.”

Sixty-five years ago, young men and women from all over Europe were inspired to fight for freedom in Spain. A special exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, The Spanish Civil War: Dreams and Nightmares, brings together a unique collection of memorabilia, including drawings by Spanish children, works by artists and photographers from Mir” and Picasso to Robert Capa, and such emotionally charged objects as a coin recovered from the ruins of Guernica and a bread ration from the siege of Alcazar. Laurie Lee’s passport, Lorca’s manuscript for The House of Bernarda Alba, letters by George Orwell and news dispatches from Ernest Hemingway are among other items gathered here. There are no educational events specific to this exhibition, but the museum’s daily programme about the First and Second World Wars and the Holocaust continues. Information: 020 7416 5313 or www.iwm.org.uk The Victoria and Albert Museum’s colourful celebration of current designer wear, Radical Fashion, provides an opportunity to see at close quarters the work of 11 big names, including Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, Issey Miyake and Vivienne Westwood. There is a free evening (booking essential) next Tuesday for educators intending to bring groups, which will include a talk by the exhibition’s curator, Claire Wilcox.

On December 15 and 16, visitors can watch as designers demonstrate working from sketch pad to fabric, and on November 4 families are invited to storytelling sessions about identity and disguise, with a chance to dress up and explore changes in mood and personality. Information: 020 7942 2197 or www.vam.ac.uk Contemporary music is sometimes considered too much of a minority interest for the young, but GCSE and A-level music require composition, and what is that if not contemporary? Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (November 22 to December 2) has a full education programme. The vocal group, The Shout (described as “a vocal big band, a choir of babel”), will present their new programme, On Arrival, on November 23, after working with young singers from the region. Their Sea Tongue, specially written for Kirklees choirs, will turn Huddersfield Town Hall into a ship on November 25.

Musicians from the Manchester-based Halle orchestra, Aleatronic, are working with students from Batley high school for boys and Westborough high school in Dewsbury to create small group pieces for electronic and acoustic instruments. The pieces will be performed on November 26. Information about these and other education events: 01484 425082 or www.hcmf.co.uk.

The Society for the Promotion of New Music has just received an award from the National Foundation for Youth Music, with partnership funds from the Performing Rights society - pound;700,000 in total. This will enable SPNM to launch Sound Inventors - putting music together, a series of 20 projects for students aged eight to 18, to take place across England, focusing on areas of social exclusion where young people have limited access to music.

Participants, up to 40 in each case, will create their own music and learn about writing for singers and instrumentalists under the guidance of professional composers. Each project is also intended to provide support for teachers of composition. For information: www.spnm.org.uk Heather Neill