Harry Hill
Plus Virginia McKenna, Paul O'Grady, Julia Bradbury and Joanna Page
- The comedian Harry Hill is one of the celebrities who will support SeeAbility's Spectacular Friday appeal. The charity, which works with people who are blind or partially sighted and have other disabilities, will run the appeal later this year, at first to raise awareness of eye health at companies. "I was eight when I first started wearing glasses and straight away the insults started: 'Oi, four eyes!'; 'Oi, gogglebox'," said Hill. "Join me in supporting SeeAbility so that people with learning disabilities can get the help they need to access eye tests too."
- The actor Virginia McKenna (right), who starred in the 1966 movie Born Free, performed in the show The Best of Times, The Worst of Times in St Andrews, Fife, on 1 September to raise funds for the veterans mental health charity Combat Stress. "I feel very strongly about the welfare of our armed forces and believe the work carried out by Combat Stress cannot be commended enough," she said.
- The presenter and comedian Paul O'Grady spent two months at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in London for a new behind-the-scenes series called Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs, which is being shown on ITV1 over the next seven weeks. "Everybody knows Battersea Dogs & Cats Home - it's one of the jewels in London's crown and it's a joy to be there. I feel so at home," he said. "I'm hoping that people will watch this programme and see what a happy, professional environment it is." The show started on 3 September.
- The presenter Julia Bradbury has agreed to be a patron of Loros, the Leicestershire and Rutland hospice for adults. "Having had personal experience of cancer within my family, any difference I can make to the marvellous work Loros does for the 2,500 local patients and their families it supports each year, is indeed a great privilege," she said.
- The actor Joanna Page (right), who starred in the sitcom Gavin & Stacey, was made to look as if she had been badly sunburnt to support the Teenage Cancer Trust's annual Shunburn campaign, which aims to educate young people about skin cancer.
