News

Red Nose Day 2011 has become Comic Relief’s most successful fundraising campaign to date - raising £102 million so far. This staggering figure was revealed by Peter Bennett-Jones, founder and chairman of the Tiger Aspect Group, PBJ Management and chair of trustees at Comic Relief, when he received a special BAFTA award for his huge contribution to the entertainment industry.

During his acceptance speech Peter thanked the great British public, who once again pulled out all the stops for Red Nose Day 2011.

Of the £102 million total, £86 million was raised by the British public and there is still plenty of time for fundraisers to pay their money in and help Comic Relief transform the lives of poor and vulnerable people across the UK and Africa. Over £15 million came in through text donations and is the highest value of donations ever received through text messages

Long-term partner Sainsbury’s brought in over £11 million by selling Red Nose Day goodies, and colleagues across the country took part in all manner of fantastic fundraising feats. Hundreds of products in store also carried a donation to Comic Relief.

In addition to this, a series of high profile challenges took place including Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave’s 52 hour non-stop radio marathon which raised over £2.6 million and won a Guinness World Record. While nine celebrities took part in the BT Red Nose Desert Trek across the Kasuit Desert in Kenya and raised over £1.3 million in the process.

In response to the public's extraordinary generosity, the Government has contributed £6m to Comic Relief's work in improving health and education across Africa, further to the £10m announced on the night.  This matches the £16m Comic Relief will commit to these areas.  This takes the overall total to a record breaking £102 million.

This year’s Red Nose Day culminated in a star-studded night on the BBC with highlights including James Corden’s Smithy coming to the rescue of Comic Relief, with the help of some showbiz pals including Sir Paul McCartney, George Michael, Keira Knightley and Gordon Brown; Fake That (Alan Carr, Catherine Tate, David Walliams, James Corden and John Bishop) starring in a one-off music video with the real Take That; and Miranda Hart, Ruby Wax and Claudia Winkleman going ‘spatula to spatula’ in a hilarious cook off for Comic Relief does Masterchef.

So, anyone involved in this staggering achievement should give themselves a huge pat on the back. Thank you.