The singer’s 24-hour marathon feat not only raised a fortune but a nation’s spirits along the way
When I was growing up, charity efforts always seemed to involve slop of some kind. People got dunked with gunge or they sat in baths full of baked beans. And then it shifted. You could no longer expect to be slipped a tenner for getting mucky and looking a bit daft. Serious feats of endurance are now required for the dedicated fundraiser: mammoth bike rides up and down the country, hoisting yourself up the sorts of mountains that tax professional climbers. Now it is the era of my favourite new charitable endeavour, the 24-hour danceathon.
Last week, Sophie Ellis-Bextor raised more than £1m (and counting) for Children in Need after dancing on air for 24 hours. Hold your Murder on the Dancefloor jokes: “I don’t like the idea of the headline writing itself,” she quipped at the outset. It proved to be a common-sense-defying act of physical fortitude, many costume changes and sleep deprivation – and it was beautiful. Dermot O’Leary had done it for Comic Relief in 2015; he popped along to offer some advice as she shuffled her way through various BBC shows. She danced to the travel news, which was basically performance art, and she danced behind Tony Blackburn and Gemma Collins as the GC murdered Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday, which actually was performance art.
