ARE YOU READY TO GET NOSEY?
MARION McMULLEN looks at the changing face of Comic Relief
1 The first 100% plastic-free, plant-based Red Nose is the big feature on the Comic Relief face this year. It’s on sale in Sainsbury’s ahead of the fundraising night on March 19 and is made from bagasse, a natural by-product of sugarcane. The new nose took more than 18 months to develop and is available in 10 great characters including a fox, a badger and the caterpillar actress Anya Taylor-Joy, left, is wearing .
2 There was just a minor change for 1989 when the words “My Nose” were added to the design. The 1991 Red Noses sported tiny arms and hands. Rowan Atkinson modelled both the car and human versions.
3 A staggering 3,307,000 tomato-style noses, as worn by Sir Lenny Henry, were snapped up in the mid-90s. The noses have also featured faces, been hairy, fluffy, squeaky, glittery and even multicoloured over the years. The 1995 noses changed colour from red to gold or from red to pink.
4 Red Nose Day went prehistoric in 2013 with three dino characters sporting toes and cute grins – there was Dinomite, T-Spex and Triceytops to collect for £1 each and the trio also featured in online games. There were characters galore in 2019, but two of the rarest were the Happy Hooter and The Transforminos. You had a one in 8,400 chance of finding the latter.
5 Red Noses have turned up on cars, lorries and even the front door of 10 Downing Street when celebrity fundraisers including Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating and Alesha Dixon were invited to meet then PM Gordon Brown, in 2009, for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the charity.
6 Concorde’s famous profile has been transformed a number of times for Comic Relief. It first acquired a Red Nose in 1988 and was fitted with a 24 ft schnozzle at Heathrow airport in 1995.
7 The 2003 hairy nose came with its own pot of hair gel so you could style it to your individual tastes. Ruby Wax opted for a Red Nose Day take on the handlebar moustache. In a similar vein, the 2007 red spongy nose also came with stickers so you could give it the personal look.
8 Sainsbury’s and Comic Relief were helping supporters of Red Nose Day to do their bit for the environment in 2013 when more than a million red noses were recycled into carpet underlay for UK homes by Ball & Young Limited.
9 Mysterious, supersize red noses popped up at iconic locations across the UK in 2019. The giant sculptures were seen from Blackpool seafront to London’s St Paul’s Cathedral and the nose of Cornwall’s Mud Man, below.
10 More than £70m has been raised for good causes over the last 32 years helping to change countless lives in the UK and all over the world. Comic Relief co-founder Richard Curtis says: “We are committed to designing a more sustainable Nose every year, while continuing to make them attractive and fun.” Go to comicrelief.com for fundraising details.