WHEN Janet Street-Porter first hit the newspaper stands, and then the airwaves and television screens, there were many who didn’t like her accent, her voice or her take-no-prisoner attitudes. Opinionated as a fashion journalist, confrontational as a broadcaster and fearless as a campaigner, over time she has become a national treasure, and now she is “Off the Leash” on tour, with three local dates starting on 20th January at the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis.

The following night, Wednesday 21st, she is at at Dorchester’s Thomas Hardye School, and on Thursday 22nd, she takes her one-woman show to Exeter’s Phoenix Arts Centre.

From a bolshy child with a Welsh-speaking budgie to appearances on Loose Women, Question Time, Celebrity Masterchef and more, Janet Street-Porter’s life (and language) has always been colourful.

As a broadcaster, television executive and newspaper editor she was at the forefront of some of Britain’s most enduring cultural moments. Now she finds herself with a senior railcard and four ex-husbands. The nation’s favourite pissed-off pensioner brings comedy, tragedy and gossip in equal measure, a tour de force rant against growing old gracefully.

Often imitated but rarely equalled, in the words of her good friend Elton, “the bitch is back”! In February, she has two further dates in our region, at The Point at Southampton on Thursday 12th and The Barn at Ringwood on Friday 13th. The last date on the tour finds her back in the West Country, at Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, on Wednesday 13th May.