ACTOR Robert Powell, who will be honoured by the Wessex branch of the Variety Club in a star-studded fundraising tribute lunch later this month along with his wife Babs, has revealed why they have one of the longest and happiest marriages in showbusiness... they both thrive on exciting and demanding challenges.

For Robert that has meant taking on diverse acting roles, from Jesus of Nazareth to Nurse Mark Williams in Holby City or doing something entirely different like the comedy sketch show The Detectives with Jasper Carrott.

For Babs - a former Pan's People dancer - it has meant pushing herself through incredible feats of endurance like the BT Global Yacht Challenge and the Polar race to raise money for charity.

Babs was one of Top Of The Pop's original Pan's People dancing with them for over a decade.

When she married Robert in 1975 she settled down to being a housewife and mother for the next 25 years.

That all changed when her imagination was captured by the BT Global Yacht Challenge and in 2000 she set off on an amazing 10-month adventure sailing round the world the wrong way, raising £50,000 for charity. It was all the more incredible because she had never sailed a yacht before.

Other adventures have seen her trekking in Nepal with Ingrid Tarrant, wife of Chris, for the Children's Charity and building a wilderness research post in the Iwokrama Forest reserve on a Guyana Jungle Expedition.

More recently she entered a gruelling polar race as part of a team of three from Resolute Bay to the North Magnetic Pole. She and her team-mates walked and dragged a Pulk 350 nautical miles from resolute high in the Canadian Arctic.

The day before the tribute lunch - which will be at the Royal Bath Hotel on Sunday, May 21 - Babs will be up to her old tricks again: skydiving with the Red Devils! Then in October she is heading off on a two-month trek in Cuba.

Robert told me: "She is always looking for tough things to do. If it ain't difficult it's not worth doing - we both think that."

Robert and Babs will be joined by a host of celebrities at the lunch to raised funds for the Variety Club, directly helping local deprived disabled or underprivileged children.

Jasper Carrott will definitely be attending along with Paul Daniels and Debbie Magee, Simon Mackorkindale, Susan George, Ed Stewart and Chris Jarvis. Other guests are expected to include Christopher Biggins and Dennis Waterman.

Tickets are still available at £60 each by contacting Frances Cornelius on 566581.