Children In Need

Once again the annual event BBC''s Children In Need comes round. For me it's part of my autumn ritual, Halloween, Bonfire Night, Children in Need. An excuse, as if I need one, to plonk myself down onto the settee for 7 hours of continuous viewing. And, as if to justify it, it's all for a good cause.


Every year (if I can) I watch it, and every year it's the same. A mixture of decent acts promoting themselves under the disguise of helping a charity, and other performers prepared to make fools of themselves to entertain the public - the Newsreaders efforts are always enjoyable especially bearing in mind their performances in relation to their normal "day-job".


I always watch in the hope that some massively entertaining cock-up will happen, yet year on year it seems to get even more professionally produced. In the earleir years it was the amateurishness of the show that gave it's appeal (no pun intended). There's always the thought that being 7 hours of live tv something earth shattering will happen, it never does. Except once, when apparently late on in the programme many years ago Joanna Lumley performed a live sponsored strip - and I missed it.!


And as always it was all held together by the master himself, Sir Terry Wogan. Along with Eurovision, this will simply be no longer worth watching if the master of the self-effacing ad-lib ever decides to call it a day. In years gone by he made a great team with Gabby Roslin, this year I would say he managed to survive it despite the hindrance of Natasha and Fern - if these are BBC's "anchor" females for the future God help us.

As usual I managed to fall asleep before the end but having fast forwarded through the last 2 hours on video I know that the total had exceeded £18m by the end of the programme, a new "on the night" record. And quite rightly it all to goes to UK charities. I am sure that some of this appeals funds used to go abroad, I could be wrong ( I noticed that Terry quickly corrected himself at one stage from "children all around the world" to "of the UK") but in my opinion charity should begin at home. The efforts of the fundraisers and the willingness of the general public to donate year after year never ceases to amaze me.


Three thoughts from last night.
1) What on earth was Fern wearing in the first half ?
2) When they do the regional round-up why does my region - BBC South - always look like a school production in comparison with otherr regions?
3) Could it be the "random" prizewinner of the drawing up of a family tree coming from Norfolk was a fix. Surely that area of the country comes up with the easiest family trees ever. As the song goes,

"Your father is your brother,
your sister is your mother ......"