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.

Oliver Fury As Junk Food Looks Set To Return Into Schools

Reports suggest that schools look set to start serving junk food again as an alternative option, which have infuriated Chef Jamie Oliver.  The education minister for the new coalition government, Maurice Gibb has told some of his close allies that the limited amount of content in fat, salt and sugar will be eliminated.

Although there is still encouragement from many independent school bodies that they will follow the recommended nutritional levels, they won’t be obliged to stick to these levels by the ConDems government.  Many heads will probably stick to the healthy option, but Labour are furious at these plans, especially as they worked very hard with Oliver to dismiss the unhealthy primary school stereotype of junk food culture and hyperactive vending machine products. 

Some experts feel that this change in food culture could be down to the necessary cuts required to reduce the growing deficit levels, but others think that it is abuse of the healthy eating campaign.  Since the 2004 Feed Me Better Campaign, which was set-up by Oliver and backed by the Labour government, supermarket giant Sainsbury’s and the Daily Mirror, there have been significant rises in the amount of children passing English, Maths and Science exams over the last five years.  This unhealthy culture could therefore spearhead the return of the unhealthy Turkey Twizzlers – which was made by Bernard Matthews but was removed by the company in January 2005 after it was revealed that it contained just 34% of turkey levels, yet a dangerously high 21.2% amount of salt.

I am not the healthiest person around when it comes to food, I do like my fizzy drinks and snacks, but I think it is essential that the healthy option remains as a compulsory option, especially for younger children, who need to stay fit and healthy in their growing up years.  Let’s hope that Maurice Gibb has a change in heart.  

Changing of the Guard At Harrods As Al-Fayed Sells Up

Egyptian Mohamed Al-Fayed twenty-five reign of the department store Harrods came to an end on Saturday morning, as news filtered through of his decision to sell the chain, to the Qatar Royal Family’s investment company.  The deal, around £1.5billion will give Al-Fayed the chance to invest more time into Fulham football club, and the opportunity to spend more time with his family and grandchildren.

Although he will no longer be involved in the day-to-day running of the company, Al-Fayed will still promote the store in a new executive role of honorary chairman.  The deal also involves other areas of Harrods, such as the chartered airline and Harrods Estates.  Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the Harrods department store on Knightsbridge way back in 1985, in a successful takeover, costing some £615million.  His recent placing in the Sunday Times Rich List saw his earnings come in at around £650million.  His name has never really been out of the headlines, since the tragic death of his son, Dodi in the tragic car crash in Paris on August 31^st 1997, which also claimed the life of Diana, Princess of Wales.  Since then, Al-Fayed had waged a campaign, which has been lasting since 1997, claiming that Dodi and Diana were murdered as part of a conspiracy plot.  Despite living in Britain for over three decades, Mr. Al-Fayed has always been refuted a UK passport.  When Al-Fayed acquired control of Harrods in the 1980’s, he was also involved in a bitter dispute with late businessman Tiny Rowland, with allegations of tax evasion and stealing of essential documents in the control battle.

For Qatar Holding, the investment arm behind the Royal Family, the acquisition of Harrods is another note onto their increasing UK portfolio.  They failed in a lucrative takeover attempt of supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s three years ago.  However, they own significant stakes in the German manufacturer Volkswagen and Porsche.  Last October, they sold £1.4billion of their shares in Barclays Bank, and their assets are estimated at £40.5billion.  Harrods store was established in 1849 and over 15million shoppers are expected to pass through every year.  The store has 330 departments, ranging from electrical goods and toys, to luxurious coffee shops and restaurants.  The motto for the company is ‘Omnia Omnibus Ubique,’ – All Things for All People, Everywhere.

For Harrods, this is a clear changing of the guard and for Mohamed Al-Fayed, the end of a successful era at the helm.  However, with Qatar Holding firmly behind Harrods now, plus they have the ability to strengthen its financial clout with its new venture, this takeover should go through swiftly, without much, if any disruption at all for regular shoppers.