£5.5m donation to Sport Relief

12 April 2012

A mystery donor has given £5.5 million to the Sport Relief charity appeal in one of the biggest single donations in the history of TV fundraising, the BBC said.

The BBC said the gift from the anonymous donor - made on Friday night as viewers watched the Sport Relief telethon - was the biggest donation in Comic Relief's 22-year history.

The spokeswoman said the "phenomenal" donation pushed the total raised to more than £19 million.

She said the donor had asked for anonymity and that the BBC could not say whether the money had come from a man or woman. She also said she could not say whether the money had come from a figure in the sporting or showbusiness world.

The BBC said sports and showbusiness figures completed a series of challenges to help raise money.

Former England footballer Alan Shearer and television presenter Adrian Chiles cycled 335 miles from Newcastle to London.

Rower James Cracknell travelled from the UK to Africa "under his own steam" - completing the journey by swimming from Gibraltar to Morocco.

The spokeswoman said the BBC's "star-studded night of TV" featured programmes including Sport Relief does Strictly Come Dancing and the Apprentice, Celebrity Boxing and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and Michael Parkinson.

Audience figures peaked at 7.9 million during a Sport Relief Strictly Come Dancing special, she said.

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