IT'S rather strange reviewing a show based on a person who shared the same name as me.

Fortunately, the John Baker who inspired Calendar Girls achieved far more in his lifetime than I am likely to achieve in mine.

I'd already seen the film, and the play, now it's the turn of Calendar Girls: The Musical, on at the Theatre Royal in Bath until Saturday.

It's also rather hard to say anything other than the plethora of five-star plaudits this award-winning stage production has garnered are all thoroughly deserved.

The feel-good show is based on the true story of the Rylstone & District Women’s Institute in Yorkshire whose members stripped off to pose in the nude for a fundraising calendar.

As interest in their calendar snowballed, they hit the media headlines and inadvertently sparked a global phenomenon.

To date, the original 12 Calendar Girls have raised over £5 million pounds for Bloodwise, the UK’s specialist blood cancer charity formerly known as Leukaemia Research, which continues to receive monies from this critically- acclaimed musical.

The production features a 20-strong company led by Ruth Madoc, Lisa Maxwell, Sue Devaney, Julia Hills, Judy Holt, Sarah Jane Buckley and Rebecca Storm.

It features music written by Take That’s Gary Barlow based on a script adapted by Tim Firth from his own screenplay for the smash hit film and award-winning play.

The singing and acting by a very experienced cast is superb and never descends into sentimentality. It is by turn, funny, poignant and life-affirming.

The uplifting musical comedy shows how a group of ordinary ladies achieved something extraordinary. In Bath, the cast were rewarded with a standing ovation. What more can I say?

John Baker