Paul Merton, Pavilion, Bournemouth

IT was cold and wet outside with a crucial football match live on the telly.

Yet a decent crowd still turned out to see silent films, shot in black and white, almost a century ago.

It seems it's not just Paul Merton that has a passion for the good old days of Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel and Hardy... or maybe we all had an inkling that Steve McClaren's overpaid under-performers would be the biggest clowns of all on this dismal wintry night.

In the first half, Merton introduced classic clips of Buster dodging giant papier-mache boulders and Stan and Ollie trying to shake off the unwanted attentions of a goat - his expert commentary proved enlightening, as did pianist Neil Brand's voice-over to his highly-accomplished musical accompaniment.

After the interval, we were treated to an entire showing of Safety Last, one of the top three films of 1923 - made at a time, don't forget, when cinema was by far the most popular form of mass entertainment.

It was the first time I'd seen the movie all the way through. In fact, although many people will be familiar with that famous scene of Lloyd dangling from the skyscraper's clock, perhaps very few will have watched from beginning to end, (or truly appreciated the remarkable input of Lloyd's sidekick, Bill "The Human Fly" Strother).

The dubious wonders of computer-generated imagery may have rendered the awe-inspiring stunts of stars like Lloyd, Strother and Keaton redundant - but having seen their exploits in pretty much the same circumstances as audiences of the early 20th century, I reckon I'd agree with Merton that technological progress isn't necessarily a change for the better.