THEY have more than half a century of friendship between them, but neither Bonnie Langford nor Sandi Toksvig is absolutely clear about just where and how they first met.

It may have been in a TV studio somewhere (Sandi was playing Ethel in the hit series No.73, and Bonnie was in Saturday Starship, another cult kid's show, which followed Tiswas) or it just may have been at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

"One or the other", laughs Bonnie. "I know that I was very impressed with Sandi, and that we actually had a sketch together at one point, where one programme handed over to the other. It was a comedy skit, and the thing about it was that, as we went through it, we realised that there was no pay-off or tag line to it.

"Until, that is, some little lad came spontaneously out of the audience, and, on a live show, smacked me over the head in front of millions of people. Which was as funny as anything we could have made up, I guess.

"Sandi thought it was hilarious, that's for sure! All I know is that we laughed together, and we laughed a lot. It became very obvious that we shared - and still share - the same sense of humour.

"Sandi is just so cheerful, all the time."

"You know, I still think it was in Regent's Park," counters Sandi, "and that it was a big gala evening - you were there with Wayne Sleep, I think, and didn't you do a number with Christopher Biggins? He was a Boy Scout and you were a Brownie?"

Bonnie considers this for a split second, and says with a giggle: "Well, the thing that I remember about that evening, for sure, was that it had been raining a lot, and at one point I had to sit down on the stage, and knowing my luck I sat right in the biggest puddle on the stage.

"I went through the rest of the show with a wet bottom - which wasn't comfortable! At all!"

They explain that Short and Curly is an evening of gossip, reminiscence, anecdote, and music.

Whatever the circumstances (or the precise location) the pair have been good chums ever since, to the point where, when they are together, you get to notice that they can quite easily finish each other's sentences.

They both do their own one-woman entertainments, but agree that it is better to have a chum backstage to talk to before and after the show.

Short and Curly was devised and constructed in Bonnie and Sandi's kitchens.

Sandi explains: "We live within about 10 minutes of each other, in the Surrey countryside, and the kitchen is about the best rehearsal room either of us have ever worked in. Very convenient as it's a phone call and Your kitchen - or mine'?"

The show includes a section for questions from the audience plus a lot of stories about the people they have worked with.

Bonnie talks about her work in musicals and the recent Dancing on Ice, while Sandi talks about her writing - and The News Quiz on Radio 4, and Call My Bluff.

Sandi says: "I'm not envious of Bonnie, that's not quite the word, but how, oh how, I wished that - like her - I'd worked with Gene Kelly, met Ethel Merman, and been in Gypsy with Angela Lansbury. I mean, I am in awe of all of that!"

Short and Curly is at the Octagon Theatre, Yeovil on Friday, June 22 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £16, call the box office on 01935 422884. You can also see the show at the Regent Centre in Christchurch on Saturday, June 30 at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £16 plus concessions from the box office on 01202 499199.

PHIL PENFOLD