AT 3.15 this morning fitness expert Lizzie Webb probably woke with a

start, started to get out of bed at her normal rising time and then

remembered, ''It's Tuesday, it must be Glasgow.'' She is an integral

part of the HRT roadshow, the jolly fun part, all music, exercise, and

big smiles.

Her TV-am audience has the biggest age span on television. ''One

regular exerciser is 86, and I get photos from grannies of toddlers

bouncing about in time to my music.''

In these days of media worship, personalities like Lizzie Webb become

lifelines for people with all kinds of problems. In six years she has

been transformed from being an English, dance and drama teacher at a

London comprehensive to being seen by the public as an expert on

everything from the latest cosmetics to cures for cancer.''

We met last week. As she jogged, well, bounced anyway, off in her

TV-am track suit to collect a couple of cups of teabag tea at the

studios I had to accept that she obviously practises what she preaches.

There is just the slightest suggestion of a 41-year-old Barbie doll

about the kohl rimmed eyes, bright mouth, and taut cheeks but she now

has glamour.

She has slimmed down from a size 14 to a svelte 10, changed her long,

dark hair for a froth of red curls, and has exploited all the

information she has gleaned in the form of books, magazine articles and

video.

She is Britain's biggest selling video star.

''Music and movement are my life.'' As she talks her arms stretch

wide, her hands are forever moving. Within seconds you realise how

little the average person moves, how seldom we stretch our arms to full

length. It is her enthusiasm that is the catalyst, the same enthusiam

that resulted in some of the pupils from that comprehensive making dance

their career. One became the first black dancer with the London Festival

Ballet, two others are successful choreographers.

She does present commercial medical videos, often for drug companies,

but only things she believes in. HRT for instance. ''Yes, I know there

was Swedish research that linked HRT with breast cancer but our

screening system is better here and obviously people with the slightest

hint of breast cancer in the family would be excluded. I'll consider it

in a few years. Mrs Thatcher is reputed to be on it you know.''

The mood is less positive when it comes to financial matters. Who, I

wondered, was paying for involvement in the HRT tour, the magazine, the

drugs, company, the television company, presumably not the charity, the

National Osteoporosis Society? ''I honestly don't know. I think it is

wrong for artists to be involved in these things.''

Her new book, Total Health and Fitness (Boxtree Limited, #9.99), is

more positive. It covers exercise, nutrition and beauty, but she does

tend to come out with some stunningly obvious bits of advice. On the

vexing question of prawn cocktail, ''Ask for the prawns WITHOUT the

dressing and for extra lemon wedges. You'll be surprised how honest they

taste!''

She is a vegetarian. ''I have two dogs, a retriever and a Border

collie and I would not consider eating the hind leg of one of them.''

However, her 12-year-old son Ben, and Douglas Cameron, her manager and

the man in her life, quite often tuck into chicken casserole, and her

book contains chicken recipes, including one with haricot and kidney

beans which, along with the monkfish provenal, is a family favourite.

Lizzie fans can catch her today between 1pm and 2pm as she signs

copies of her book at John Menzies in Sauchiehall Street. And it's worth

keeping in mind that her views will probably affect more people than

those of the medical experts at the symposium.