Media UK

Comic Relief

Comic Relief is a charity organisation which was founded in 1985 in response to famine in Ethiopia. It now raises money for Africa and disadvantaged people in the UK. It was launched live on Noel Edmonds' Late, Late Breakfast Show on BBC1, on Christmas Day 1985 from a refugee camp in Sudan. The idea for Comic Relief came from the innovative philanthropist Jane Tewson, then head of a British NGO, Charity Projects. Initially funds were raised from live events, the most notable being a comedy revue at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London which was subsequently broadcast on television on 25 April 1986.

Red Nose Day is the main way in which Comic Relief raises money. It is held in the spring every other year and is often treated as a semi-holiday, with, for example, schools having non-uniform days. The day culminates in a live television event on BBC1 starting in the evening and going through into the early hours of the morning, but other money-raising events take place.

As the name suggests, the day involves the wearing of plastic red noses, which are available, in exchange for a donation, from many shops. There are also larger noses designed to be attached to the fronts of cars or even buildings. The design of the nose has been changed each year, beginning with a fairly plain one, which later grew arms and legs, turned into a tomato and even changed colour.

The first "Red Nose Day" was on 5 February 1988, which raised £15 million. The TV show was hosted by Lenny Henry, Griff Rhys Jones and Jonathan Ross. More than £210 million has so far been distributed to projects by Comic Relief. Administrative costs are covered by corporate sponsors to ensure all public donations are passed on to the supported projects.

External Links

Comic Relief - official website (http://www.comicrelief.com/)

Some or all material in this page has been adapted from the Comic Relief entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Relief), or others, in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), the free encyclopedia.