Tomorrow, Friday the 15th of March, marks the fourteenth Red Nose Day, Comic Relief’s fabulous bi annual fundraiser for charities at home and abroad. People all over the country will be doing their part to raise money for those less fortunate.
Back in 1991 I did my bit for the third Red Nose Day by entering a competition on Saturday morning kids show ‘Going Live!’. The competition was to make a short film about one of the causes that Comic Relief support and I made an animated film about the then lack of disabled access in cinemas.
And on the morning of March 16th 1991, I was live at BBC Television Centre. It was very surreal as you can tell by my subdued, overawed manner in the following clip.
Enjoy the 16 year old me! And then find out how to donate for this years event.
Some notes:
- I was wearing my sixth form suit.
- I did not become the ‘world’s best animator’.
- Somewhere in a box is my framed, signed photograph of Lenny Henry.
- Just out of shot - Philip Schofield, Gordon The Gopher, Ben Elton, Hale & Pace, Trevor & Simon and The Mock Turtles.
- I shot the animation in one night, the 17th of January 1991 as the first Gulf War strike was happening. The news of the raid soundtracked the shoot.
- My classmate Fiona Lunnon told me to enter the competition and has forever since claimed all credit for my career. Fiona, you are correct.
- Someone at ‘Comic Relief’ told me I had won by mistake and I had to fake my look of surprise on the live show. It’s not quite a ‘Quiz Show’ scandal, but I think that I did a pretty good actings.
- I used the video camera to shoot no budget epics like ‘A Fistful Of Fingers’, ‘Dead Right’ and my superhero opus ‘Carbolic Soap’.
- I did not get off with Sarah Green.
- Philip Schofield smoked during the cartoons.
- ‘Going Live!’ was shot in Studio TC7, which is soon to be bulldozed as part of the reconstruction of BBC Television Centre. Boo.
Enough about me - DONATE TO COMIC RELIEF NOW!