Comic Relief 2011 - Doing something funny for money

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

SINCE its inception back in 1988, Comic Relief has raised more than over £400 million to help disadvantaged children in both UK and Africa, thanks to its successful Red Nose Day campaign.  Over the last few years, the record for fundraising in a campaign has always been broken and this year was no exception.

     A massive £74.4 million was raised on the night on Friday and where as the final total on the last Red Nose Day finished up on just over £80 million, this figure is expected to topple this when the final totals are published in a few months time.  In total, the biggest donations came from the following:

BT raised £1.7 million for their sponsorship of the Celebrity Desert Trek

Sainsbury’s raised £10 million for sales of official merchandise, a new record for the supermarket

TK Maxx raised £3 million for sales of official t-shirts

Maltesers raised £1.1 million for a public competition

Walkers raised £1.2 million for sales of four special crisp flavours

British Airways raised £801,000 for sales of special scratch cards on selected flights

BBC raised £2.9 for some of their stars attempting various tasks

The remaining £53.7 million was provided by public donations

     BBC One again provided a full evening’s worth of entertainment to help fundraising initiatives.  The programme featured comical sketches of Doctor Who, Outnumbered, Miranda and MasterChef, which featured an appearance by none other than Prime Minister David Cameron himself.  Also, Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton attempted to pull off a high wire walk between two of London’s tallest buildings and Radio 1’s Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave succeeded in fronting the station’s longest ever show, at a staggering 53 hours, setting a new Guinness World Record in the process.

     David Walliams also proved his stern material to survive long hours by attempting to appear on as many panel shows in 24 hours.  ’24 Hour Panel People’, which was broadcast on the BBC website, saw Walliams joined by a selection of guests to participate in various shows past and present, including 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Have I Got News For You, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and They Think It’s All Over.

     Nine famous faces endured an energy-zapping trek across the Kenyan desert to raise nearly £2 million which featured Scott Mills, Lorraine Kelly, Kara Tointon, Dermot O’Leary and Olly Murs.  Meanwhile, Ant and Dec were challenged by Comic Relief to gatecrash as many shows as they could in 24 hours unannounced and steal various items to auction off.  Daybreak, This Morning, Loose Women and The One Show were among those that were targeted.

     On the music front, the campaign has brought out two songs.  Rising boy band The Wanted provided the official track ‘Gold Forever’, the first original song for Red Nose Day since 2005.  However response of the track was largely negative.  The other is another comical edition which has Peter Kay on board again, reprising his alter ego Geraldine McQueen to team up with Susan Boyle to perform ‘I Know Him So Well,’ originally sung by Elaine Page.  As expected, this has gone down as a huge hit and it won’t be surprising if it claims top spot in the charts next Sunday.

     All in all, it has been another successful night for the charity.  Now everyone is indeed wondering how they will top those events for 2013.  A whole 731 days must pass before then.

Mubarak finally departs - A new dawn for Egypt

MILLIONS of Egyptians were celebrating in the streets of Cairo last night, after embattled president Hosni Mubarak elected to leave his controlling position.  Mubarak hands over power with immediate effect to the military after 30 years as president of Egypt.  This follows almost a month of ugly protests, violent clashes and stand-off from many protestors, supporters of the beleaguered Mubarak and riot police.  During this, Cairo has been bought to a complete standstill.  Following the upheaval of the Tunisian government last month, and talk of rebellious change in places such as Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to come, the world and Africa especially has to deal with its biggest upheaval of change since 1989.

DELIRIUM: Egyptians celebrate the departure of Hosni Mubarak

Mubarak’s resignation was confirmed in a short speech on national television by the deputy leader Omar Suleiman, recently bought in by Mubarak to try and ease the crisis.  The speech also confirmed the move into control of the country by the army.  This came just 24 hours after Mubarak himself appeared on Egyptian television and announced that he was staying on until the elections in September, after there had been wide speculation that he would go straightaway.  Worldwide, the news has been greeted with positively from world powers.  Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that all he wants to see in Egypt is a ‘peaceful transition.’  Barack Obama, a stiff critic of Mubarak’s determination to hang onto power was delighted in a televised address he gave to his nation; “Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than general democracy will carry the day.  The military will now have to ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.”

Egyptian flags, often burnt in frustration during the three weeks of demonstrations, were waving high last night by dancing Egyptians, scenes that haven’t been seen worldwide since the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.  This is momentous change for Egypt, especially as they have been governed by Mubarak for so long.  The rest of the Arab world will have been watching with great interest and wonder, ‘could we do the same.’ 

Last month, the uprising in Tunisia, which surprised many onlookers, saw the collapse of the long-standing government.  Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has fled to Saudi Arabia, but unlike Egypt, it looks a very uncertain and insecure place at the moment.  Yemen is on the brink of civil war and political unrest.  Most of the government have already quit there, and their president has decided to step down in two years time after like Mubarak, more than three decades in power.  The hunger for change in these countries is spreading.  So much so, that the president of Syria, who has ruled for 40 years, has allowed the opening of social networking websites Twitter and Facebook.  In these extremes, that is not the smartest move he ever thought of.  

Back in Egypt, 82-year old Mubarak is believed by worldwide sources to have fled to the Red Sea, though his general whereabouts are unknown.  It is believed that Obama’s refusal to back him has left him feeling betrayed and might have been the final catalyst in his downfall.

The people of Tunisia and Egypt have managed to bring down two long-term governments to their knees in two short months.  Others may follow, and I’d expect that.  1989 saw Germany reunified, the Berlin Wall knocked down, Romania, Poland and Czechoslovakia overthrow their long-time dictators and the end of the Cold War.  This ultimately spelt the demise of Mikhail Gorbachev and the demise of the old Soviet Union.  If these recent events have anything to go by, there could be plenty more uprisings in the calendar year to come.  

However bored some may have been with this story, no-one can deny the impact that Hosni Mubarak’s departure is going to have on the world.  We must pay attention deeper than ever to this changing worldwide society.

England 3-1 Egypt - More Positives for Fabio

Last night, England put aside the problems that have been washed up by the British media of recent weeks, with a decent second half performance, giving Fabio Capello more encouragement that his side can go all the way in South Africa this summer.

Despite this, the first half display against African Nations Cup holders Egypt was very flat and lacklustre.  It will have concerned the boss how many wayward passes were happening and the amount of time that the Egyptians were being allowed on the ball.  It will also be notified of Matthew Upson’s stumble and trip which led to Egypt’s opening goal from the Borussia Dortmund striker, Mohamed Zidan.  Although Zidan’s finish was cool and impressive, he shouldn’t have been allowed the chance to shoot in the first place.  The cover for Rio Ferdinand at the back is very worrying. 

For John Terry, last night was a step in the right direction.  He has received his criticisms and boo-boys and rightly so, and his mistakes at Chelsea of late have been repetitive and very costly.  He was booed by many on the team line-up, but those who continued during the national anthems and the game, were largely drowned out by cheers from the majority.  His performance wasn’t error-free, but it had far more conviction than the rest of the back four and he seemed to be the only one able to organize the mess around the team in the first 45 minutes.

England’s 500^th win in their history was sealed by an impressive 2^nd half display.  Substitutes Peter Crouch and Shaun-Wright Phillips were very impressive, surely having done enough now for their place on the plane to South Africa.  Tottenham striker Crouch, who has recently lost his place in the North London side, Roman Pavyluchenko helped himself to two more international goals.  In 38 appearances, the ex-Liverpool hitman now has an impressive 20 goals to his name – a staggering statistic.  Now, Emile Heskey cannot be considered as first choice alongside Wayne Rooney.  Wright-Phillips, considered by many as 4^th choice on the right-side of midfield, behind Aaron Lennon, David Beckham and Theo Walcott did his chances no harm at all, by setting up a goal and scoring one for himself.  James Milner once again gave a solid and committed performance when he came off the bench.  The Aston Villa playmaker is the most in-form English midfielder in the Premiership and his consistency has to put him in line for a place in Capello’s final cut.

So, who will miss out on the World Cup?  Both Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole face a race against time to be fit, whilst Joe Cole needs first team action desperately at Chelsea, otherwise he could be shock exclusion.  Once again, Walcott’s performance last night was dismal.  After a promising start, he faded badly and must have blown his chance now of playing in South Africa.  If I was Theo, I’d think about booking a summer holiday to the Bahamas, at least he will get a decent tan!

Last night’s 3-1 result was satisfactory and there were more positives than negatives.  After the trauma and scandal that has dogged English football in recent weeks, it was nice to see some much-needed unity last night.  South Africa is inching closer and Fabio Capello can lookback on last night at a job well done. 

See below for my 23-man prediction squad for the World Cup in 2010:

Robert Green, David James, Joe Hart, Glen Johnson, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines, Aaron Lennon, David Beckham, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Gareth Barry, James Milner, Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Carlton Cole, Gabriel Agbonlahor