IF you're a lover of Christmas panto, you'll know that the Great Dame himself, our Berwick, will be hanging up his trademark wig, boots and leggings (one leg yellow, the other red) for the last time on February 2. Oh yes, very sadly, he will.

There will be no more 'me babbies, me bairns' once this winter's run of The Grand Old Dame of York comes to an end. "I've always put York first but now I'm putting the country first and putting myself up for the job of Prime Minister representing the Monster Raving Loony Party," Berwick joked, when the announcement he was to stand down after 40 years as dame was made last month.

Well, he couldn't do a worse job than the lot in power at the moment, let's face it...

That final performance will be a sad once. But there are a few more to enjoy yet.

Meantime, here's a look back at a few of Berwick's earlier panto appearances. And we've thrown in a couple of curve balls just to keep you on your toes...

1. December 1971: Proof that there was life before Berwick. An airborne Frankie Desmond plays Nurse Trot to Freddie Lees' Billy in Babes in the Wood

2. December 1978: Berwick' as dame Dolly in Jack and the beanstalk with Peter Bartle as Major Catastrophe and John Markham as Private Grief. This was Berwick's first proper dame for the Theatre Royal (in 1977's Cinderella he was, strictly speaking, an ugly sister)

3. December 1979: The panto was Dick Whittington, and Berwick was the dame. But he doesn't appear in this photo. Instead it is Gary Oldman (yes, that Gary Oldman) as Puss who is earning an affectionate pat from Sharon Bower's Dick and an admiring smile from Kate West's Alice Fitzwarren

4. December 1982: Titter ye not - there's surely a touch of the Frankie Howerd in Berwick's dame as he chastises Michael Remick's Tommy in Babes in the Wood

5. December 1983: Berwick as an ugly sister again, this time with Paul Raffield, in Cinderella

6. January 1984: The ugly sisters (Berwick Kaler and Paul Raffield) again, this time with Cinderella...

7. December 1984: Berwick as dame teams up with a very punkish (and very young) Martin Barrass in Sinbad the Sailor

8. December 1984: The eyes have it: Berwick Kaler as dame in Sinbad the Sailor - this time with Robert Lister as some kind of middle eastern potentate...

Stephen Lewis

Panel

Dame Berwick, the Complete Box Set (ie all his panto appearances in York, in running order...)

1977, Cinderella (as an ugly sister)

1978, Jack and the Beanstalk

1979, Dick Whittington

1980, Mother Goose

1981, Aladdin

1982, Babes In The Wood

1983, Cinderella

1984, Sinbad The Sailor

1985, Jack And The Beanstalk

1988, Humpty Dumpty

1989, Aladdin

1990, Mother Goose

1991, Dick Whittington

1992, Babes In The Wood

1993, Jack And The Beanstalk

1994, Sleeping Beauty

1995, Cinderella

1996, Mother Goose

1997, Aladdin

1998, Beauty and the Beast

1999, Old Mother Milly

2000, Dick Whittington

2001, Jack And The Beanstalk

2002, Babbies In The Wood

2003, Mother Goose's Silver Jubilee

2004, Sleeping Beauty

2005, The Lad Aladdin

2006, Cinderella

2007, Sinbad The Sailor

2008, Dick Turpin, The Panto

2009, Humpty Dumpty

2010, Jack And The Beanstalk

2011, York Family Robinson

2012, Robin Hood & His Merry Mam

2013, Aladdin And The Twankees

2014, Old Mother Goose

2015, Dick Whittington & His Meerkat, at National Railway Museum

2016, Cinderella

2017, Jack And The Beanstalk

2018, The Grand Old Dame Of York

Did you know?

In 1986 and 1987, Berwick was in the West End, London, appearing first as Foster Wilson and Chief Sitting Bull in Annie Get Your Gun, Aldwytch Theatre, then as Mugs Molloy in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Kiss Me Kate, The Old Vic. express the theatre’s boundless gratitude to Berwick’s work in our city for 40 years.”