VETERAN actor and rowing enthusiast William Franklyn will start the 17th Great River Race tomorrow (Saturday). He will fire the cannon at 1.15pm below Ham House to set off the 260 boats taking the gruelling 22-mile course to Greenwich.

Craft due to be rowed and paddled by more than 1,800 rowers include Cornish pilot gigs, Thames skiffs, shallops, wherries and cutters, Pembrokeshire and Celtic longboats, Hawaiian outrigger canoes, Scarborough and Whitby gigs, Chinese dragonboats, Devon seine boats, Irish curraghs, whalers and Atlantic race boats. They will be coming from around the world as well as every part of the UK.

In a career spanning more than 50 years, William Franklyn is perhaps most fondly remembered for his role in the 'Sch you know who' TV adverts for Schweppes. He is set to win a new generation of fans playing the voice of 'The Book' in BBC Radio's new adaptation of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.

He learned to row when at Haileybury School in Melbourne in 1934, a skill he later put to good use when filming 'Nutcracker' with Joan Collins.

He said: "I was delighted to be asked to start what looks like a fascinating and spectacular event. And I'm particularly pleased that the original Haileybury School has a boat in the race."

Boats leave Ham with handicap starting times. A winner is expected at Island Gardens in Docklands at about 4.30pm.

The Great River Race is held under the aegis of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames and is supported by the Environment Agency, Port of London Authority and Richmond upon Thames Council.

l FREE entertainment for all the family is being put on at Richmond riverside tomorrow (Saturday) to coincide with the Great River Race.

There will be live jazz on the riverside terraces, courtesy of Richmond Adult Community College Jazz School - headlining is the Shireen Francis Group.

The jazz starts at noon with the St Margarets Elastic Band and concludes with the RACC Latin ensemble, called Havana Good Time, who are due on at 3pm.

In Riverdale Gardens (along the towpath past the Bingham Hotel towards Ham), there will be a huge bouncy castle, and Prof O'Dearmee's Punch and Judy, while the adults can relax over a beer and a sushi at St Margarets Tavern's beer tent.

Along the way, you might meet some strange sea-faring entertainers; there are rumours of a stranded mermaid and you might bump into Jilly Jam Jar who makes balloon animals.

Back in Richmond, in addition to the farmers' market in Heron Square there will be a special Cornish arts and crafts market just a few yards away in Whittaker Avenue.

The entertainment has been organised by Richmond Town Centre Management with help from Richmond Adult Community College, the White Cross, the Slug and Lettuce, Henry's, Pitcher and Piano, H2O, Tide Tables, Stein's and St Margarets Tavern.