Inside, however, they will be confronted by a cash till and signs listing a sliding scale of "recommended donations" ranging from £2 for children to an £8 "family ticket".Tourists keen to visit Ely's Norman cathedral, with its 24-hour lunar clock and unique octagonal tower, may be put off when they learn of its compulsory £4 admission charge.For anybody living outside Canterbury, the cost of a visit to the cathedral is £3.50, while the fee for a close-up view of the tomb of the Venerable Bede at Durham is £2. At Hereford Cathedral, general admission is a voluntary £2, but to see the 13th-century Mappa Mundi and its "chained library" costs a further, and compulsory, £4.They may be places of worship, but Anglican cathedrals are making millions of pounds from entry charges. In contrast the Roman Catholic Church has a formal policy of free entry. The Church of England allows its individual dioceses to decide for themselves ­ which has resulted in a bewildering array of practices, with some dioceses making compulsory charges, some leaving them voluntary and others not charging at all.Many justify their entry fees by stressing that, while the Government gives each of the 17 national museums a multi-million-pound annual grant, cathedrals receive no state funding.However, the church's entrance charges cause some disquiet. Iain Taylor, spokesman for the inter-denominational Evangelical Alliance, said: "Cathedrals are terribly expensive to run, so we have a lot of sympathy for them, but people often have social needs which are helped by going to churches, and if they say you can't enter one without paying a fiver that's not exactly welcoming."The issue here is who should be paying for their upkeep. We wouldn't agree with the French system of nationalising churches, but if a church has a specific need we would rather see the government step in to offer help than entry fees raised."The charges ­ voluntary or otherwise ­ are defended by the church, which points out that without them cathedrals would fall into disrepair.Bernard Kane, chief executive of Peterborough Cathedral, said: "It costs us £2,000 a day just to keep this cathedral open, and about 80 per cent of those who visit us do so for cultural reasons."These are, in many cases, very old buildings and in order to preserve them it seems reasonable to expect those visiting out of historical interest to make a contribution."However, the upkeep problem of cathedrals is nowhere near as desperate as it once might have been.

Last month the Government reduced VAT on repairs on listed churches to 5 per cent, while English Heritage now provides many with annual grants.This year, for example, Lincoln Cathedral, which charges a compulsory £3.50 entry fee, will receive £259,000 from English Heritage.. The JNF has booked Mr Clinton for three consecutive nights in December, in Glasgow, Manchester and London. Bill Clinton is charging a British Jewish charity a reported fee of £200,000 to speak at three fundraising dinners. The money raised will be spent on a high-profile project ­ possibly a reservoir ­ named in his honour in Israel. For the money, the former president will speak for one hour at each venue and then answer questions for a further 30 minutes. He has also promised to meet and have his photograph taken with guests willing to pay extra for the privilege.But the choice of Mr Clinton ­ and the amount he is being paid ­ as guest speaker at the Jewish National Fund's 100th birthday celebrations has met with disquiet among members of Britain's Jewish community.Mr Clinton, long tainted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, caused outrage over his granting of a pardon to Marc Rich, the oil dealer with strong Israeli connections accused of tax evasion, fraud and racketeering.One prominent Jew, who donates to the JNF but did not wish to be named, said: "I just feel these sums to be beyond the limits of acceptability."I think particularly in a year when Mr Clinton is embarrassed by a scandal over the Marc Rich affair, it would seem extraordinary for a charity to be doing this."The JNF has booked Mr Clinton for three consecutive nights in December, in Glasgow, Manchester and London.The lecture circuit is an especially lucrative field for former world leaders. FW de Klerk, the former South African president, charges a minimum six-figure sum, while Baroness Thatcher receives £60,000. General Colin Powell, in the years between the end of the Gulf War and his taking up the post of Secretary of State in the new Bush administration, earned a reputed £19m from public speaking.For a one-off lecture at the Hay-on-Wye Festival later this month Mr Clinton is reportedly receiving £100,000.Certainly, the JNF is delighted to have secured his services and believes it is money well spent.

It has set itself a target of £1m profit from the tour and will set ticket prices accordingly.The charity has refused to confirm or deny Mr Clinton's fee, pointing out it has signed a confidentiality agreement over the figure. But Stanley Lovatt, the JNF vice president, said no previous speaker, including in recent times Kirk Douglas, Joan Collins and the comic Jackie Mason, had attracted so much attention. Mason, who once caused uproar by comparing Mr Clinton to Adolf Hitler, charges around £50,000 for a 45-minute speaking engagement.. More than 500 people have been rejected for membership of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in an attempt to stop alleged entryism by supporters of fox-hunting. More than 500 people have been rejected for membership of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in an attempt to stop alleged entryism by supporters of fox-hunting. The cull of applications has led to civil war in the RSPCA between traditionalists who support hunting, and activists who believe hunting is incompatible with the society's aims.The warring factions broke cover after the RSPCA obtained court approval for the right to veto applications by supporters of hunting, who may have been seeking to reverse its policy against blood sports.At the centre of the row is an attempt to expel Olympic equestrian medallist Richard Meade, who supports fox-hunting.