Theatre
Free The Arts Council of England provides free theatre tickets for under-26s - see www.artscouncil.org.uk. On www.myfreerewards.co.uk, you can get free theatre tickets after earning points by completing questionnaires and clicking on websites. To see theatre shows "in progress", consult individual theatres over open rehearsals. Treat live TV as theatre and get free access through www.applausestore.com, www.sroaudiences.com, www.clappers-tickets.co.uk, www.tvrecordings.com and www.lostintv.com.
Cheap For discounted tickets, see www.lastminute.com, www.allinlondon.co.uk, www.discounttheatre.com and www.theatremonkey.com. Try www.seatwave.com - the eBay of the theatre world. It can be cheaper to buy tickets direct from theatres, avoiding booking fees and postage. Productions by The National Youth Theatre are purse-friendly, while the Globe Theatre offers 700 standing tickets at £5 each. Meanwhile, local and pub theatre can be seen for as little as £2. Many theatres offer 70% off, in the hour before each performance, to students, over-60s and the unemployed. See www.dresscircle.co.uk for cut-price programmes and their merchandise.
Film
Free Tickets for free preview screenings of new movies are available through www.seefilmfirst.com, www.momentumscreenings.co.uk and www.freecinematicketsuk.co.uk. Codes to apply for different companies' and publications' freebie and special ticket offers (and to enter ticket competitions) are often revealed on www.myvouchercodes.co.uk and the cinema forum of www.moneysavingexpert.com. Free films are also available by becoming a "mystery shopper" for a research company like Lodge Service or React - see www.borntoloaf.co.uk for details.
Cheap An adult gets in free with each child paying just £1.50 on Saturday and Sunday mornings at Vue cinemas; Cineworld charges £2 for one adult and one child, and the Odeon £2.50. Buy a £4.99 Vue standby-voucher on www.lastminute.com and use it to book, on the day in question, any available seat in a Vue cinema. Cineworld's Unlimited Card allows unlimited access to movies from £11 a month. Alternatively, acquire a free Orange SIM card from www.orange.co.uk/freesimcard and get two-for-one tickets at any cinema on Wednesdays.
Music
Free Those prepared to skirt around music copyright issues can visit file-sharing sites. Explore www.freealbums.blogsome.com for news of free legal downloads. But most interesting at the moment is www.qtrax.com, which offers 25m tunes for free legal download, if you don't mind adverts and digital rights management software that tracks what you do with the tunes. www.archive.org has a free library rich in audio and MP3s and is of special appeal to those wanting live recordings. Visit www.classicalarchives.com for free classical music.
Cheap Get invited by a member of www.spotify.com, or join its waiting list, to be able to stream your favourite tracks for free, or pay 99p per day and avoid the ads. Downloadable tracks which are DRM-free (ie, which you can make further copies of) are 65p each from play.com. Buying gig tickets in person from a venue can save £30 in delivery and booking fees for a big name and venue. Search for cheap tickets on www.allinlondon.co.uk and www.lastminute.com, but only after checking the web-pages (and fan-club sites) of the bands. Avoid marked-up prices on eBay by visiting www.scarletmist.com, the "ethical" ticket site where tickets go for face value. Finally, see the free and cheap sections of www.allgigs.co.uk.
TV
Free A free internet version of cable TV, www.freetube.11mb.com gives access to 435 channels. On www.joost.com you can find 15,000 shows from CBS, VH1, CNN, Cartoon Network & other channels, while www.trooker.com constantly searches YouTube and alerts users to anything new that suits their tastes. For direct TV viewing, search for the cheapest deals with free opening offers. Many non-current movies are available for free download from www.freemovies.net; Bollywood movies are on www.desifun.co.uk. People prepared to skirt legality issues will probably be able to find and download, for free, all the segments of practically any recent or old film. To watch BBC and C4 programmes in high quality up to five weeks after broadcast, use iPlayer's and 4oD's download facilities (rather than their one-week streaming facilities).
Cheap Old and new movies are available for download on blinkbox.com, some free and others at around £3.09. On www.dvd4free.co.uk, discover how to get six months' free DVD hire (and free postal delivery and return) by joining and switching between rental companies such as Tesco and lovefilm.com. For DVD rentals, local libraries are usually the cheapest non-internet option. If using a video-player at home, ex-rental and deleted tapes sell for £1.50 in many DVD rental outlets.
Literature
Free Join the British Library and you can order - and visit to read - any book in its immense catalogues. Meanwhile, www.copac.ac.uk is an online catalogue of all books in UK specialist libraries. Classic literature for free download is listed on www.gutenberg.org. Sites like www.openlibrary.org and www.archive.org have millions of free books to read online or download. On www.readitswapit.co.uk books are swapped and gifted. Book readings, at which drinks are often provided, are a cheerful alternative to speaking books: see www.list.co.uk. Use local library websites to find the nearest library that has the book you want. The average Briton would save £91 a year by borrowing books instead.
Cheap Check out www.comparebookprices.co.uk and www.bookfinder4u.com for cheap new books. For example, Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father is only £6.29 (free P&P) from www.waterstones.co.uk and Waterstones shops, against £10.99 (including £2 P&P) from www.blackwell.co.uk or £8.99 in a Blackwell shop. Bookshop staff often have the authority to reduce the price of scuffed or moderately damaged books by 20%. This could mean Dreams From My Father might go for as little as £5.03, with additional savings made on a future purchase if signing up for a (free) loyalty card.
Art
Free Excluding special exhibitions, access is free to 3,000 public galleries and museums across the country (see www.24hourmuseum.org.uk). At The National Portrait Gallery on Friday evenings there's live music and free food. London's ICA recently dropped its entry fee and commercial galleries are usually free. Many private views (with champagne) are accessible following a phone call expressing an interest in buying work. Galleries in the Vyner Street/Bethnal Green area of London stay open on the first Thursday evening of each month and wine and snacks are often free.
Cheap To book for museums and paying exhibitions, see www.lastminute.com, www.allinlondon.co.uk and other agencies for cheap tickets. Consider museum membership. For £50 get "free" access to all private views at the Liverpool Tate for a year and for £74 to all private views at all four Tates for a year. Buy contemporary art, for as little as £50, at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park (12-15 March). The Arts Council provides interest-free loans of up to £2,000 to buy UK art. All art acquired from www.artgallery.co.uk is returnable within two weeks, no questions asked. Companies like www.bodtfineart.com sell damaged and restored art to those wanting a big name without a big price.
