Happy Friday, dear readers, and wasn’t that a lovely bit of sun some of us had yesterday? Shame it’s back to business as usual today with grey March skies but it is technically the first day of spring, if that makes you feel any better, and Red Nose Day.
Society Diary would like to apologise for our irregular meetings these days, but doesn’t absence make the heart grow fonder? What time apart also allows is for Diary to collect a few more charity-related stories from across the country to share with you.
This week, read on for tales of a woman stuck in a loveless marriage to Pudsey Bear, an indication that MrBeast’s vast philanthropic influence might finally have gone to his head and TV presenters taking on a mammoth roller-skating challenge to raise money.
Mrs Bear
Now, we all know Mr Pudsey Bear, the lovable mascot of BBC Children in Need for 40 years but what about his long-suffering wife?
No, this story isn’t actually about a fiction character’s imaginary wife but a real woman who changed her name by deed poll to Pudsey Bear 16 years ago.
The woman formally known as Eileen De Bont legally changed her moniker after running an eBay auction to raise £4,000 for the national charity in 2009.
All the north Wales-based fundraiser’s bank details, utility bills, medical records and tarot reading business have been in the name of the Children In Need mascot ever since.
But this week she told MailOnline that her unusual name has also caused trouble, with the Home Office refusing to grant her a passport in 2009 after deeming her name change as “frivolous”.
And 16 years on, Mrs Bear was recently told her application could fail again due to a potential copyright breach.
“I thought that after 16 years the passport agency can hardly call my name ‘frivolous’,” she told the newspaper.
“It is my name, and has been for 16 years, so I would like it on the front page of my passport next to my photograph.”
As someone who also changed its identity over a decade ago, Society Diary sympathises with Mrs Bear and hopes the Home Office changes its tune.
MrBeast
Now, for those unaware of the phenomenon of MrBeast, he is an “influencer” with millions of “followers” on the “internet”.
MrBeast is also disrupting the global charity sector with Beast Philanthropy, which leverages his vast social media profile to raise funds for causes including poverty, hunger, and homelessness.
But this week, the 26-year-old American Youtuber caused a stir with a social media post about his latest scheme.
He posted: “I have a pilot living in a $2,500,000 private jet and if he doesn’t leave for 100 days he keeps it, a cop/criminal in jail and if they don’t leave for 100 days they win $500,000, and someone living in a gym until he loses 100 pounds for $500,000. Can’t wait to upload these.”
MrBeast was challenged by followers that he was motivated less by sharing his wealth and more by the fact that he enjoys “forcing random people to live in small spaces”.
The influencer denied this and clarified that all participants were happy and free to leave at any time.
Diary remembers the days when sitting a bath full of beans was enough to generate a few quid for a good cause but it appears the stakes have been raised.
24-hour roller disco
And finally, Red Nose Day is celebrating its 40th year with a night of fundraising today, its first without founder Lenny Henry.
Besides the usual host of celebrity-featuring sketches, this year’s event features a 24-hour roller disco undertaken by broadcasters Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones.
For those who have seen clips of the pair’s Wheely Big Challenge, what is striking is how much more painful the challenge has been than they expected.
Jones nearly had to pull out after suffering an injury when he fell over but the pair kept going through the night.
Diary remembers roller discos being a lot of fun but there’s probably a reason why they stop after a few hours.
