“The song went straight to number one in the UK charts for seven weeks”

Red Nose Day – Top 5 Moments

Red Nose Day has always pushed the limits to raise money for those in need, whether it’s Tess Daley and Claudia Winkleman dancing non stop for 24 hours or a load of celebrities climbing Kilimanjaro. In its history alongside Sports Relief over £1 billion has been raised.

On Friday 19th March, Red Nose Day will be on the BBC. It will feature shows, sketches and challenges, all to help raise money for the charity which works to change the lives of vulnerable people and communities both in the UK and abroad. To get us in the spirited mood for the run up to 2021 Red Nose Day we thought we’d share with you 5 of our favourite moments. 

David Walliams Swims The Thames!

Back in 2011, comedian and children’s book author David Walliams decided to take on a huge challenge to swim the length of the River Thames which is a huge 140 miles! David Walliams isn’t an Olympic athlete so you can see how impressive that’s got to be. During the swim, he got a stomach bug and also developed wetsuit sores but he still managed to carry on. And to top it all off he David managed to raise almost £1 million for Sports Relief.

Davina McCall’s 500 Mile Triathlon

TV host Davina McCall took on a 500 mile bike ride, swim and run in 2014. With the weather adding to the challenge it took Davina a total of seven days. You could see it was an emotional rollercoaster for the presenter, due to exhaustion the presenter had to be carried out of the water at the end of her swimming leg. Her hard work really paid off as she managed to raise over £750,000 for Sports Relief.

Inspiring The England Team

In 2009, the England football team were at a very low point. But a surprising character gives the team a talk of a lifetime as part of Red Nose Day – American TV host James Corden dropped by playing his classic ‘Gavin and Stacey’ character, Smithy! For Comic Relief, Smithy performs in a sketch as a handy man at a hotel who ends up stepping through the wrong door and facing the entire England football team. There were even appearances from David Beckham, Peter Crouch and Frank Lampard.

Is This The Way To Amarillo?

TV funny man Peter Kay did a rendition of Tony Christie’s 1971 song, ‘Is This The Way To Amarillo?’ during Red Nose Day 2005. In a music video, Kay and many well known celebrities danced along to the song whilst running on a treadmill. The song went straight to number one in the UK charts for seven weeks running despite the release of the first version being 30 years before. 

Danceathon

In 2019, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman took on the celebrity danceathon, but they were not the first celebrities to do so. Tess and Claudia tried to break the record of DJ Sara Cox who managed to dance to 80s music for 24 hours in 2017. She raised £1 million. Back in 2015 X Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary also took on the challenge for Comic Relief!

Have any favourite moments of your own? Let us know in the comments!