Since 1985 the UK celebrate something called Red Nose Day once every 2 years.
If you’re from the UK, you’ve almost definitely heard of it.
If you’re from America, or somewhere else in the world, you should read about it!
Red Nose Day is a day to raise funds for a charity known as Comic Relief, and a day to wear a big red nose!
It has become an important day for people in Britain to come together, have fun and raise funds for charity.
Here are 30 Red Nose Day facts so you know why it exists.
In 1985, Richard Curtis, Jane Tewson and friends came up with the idea of using comedy to raise funds for charity, specifically to help change lives in Africa and the UK.
On Christmas Day 1985, “Comic Relief” was launched; live on BBC One from the Safawa Refugee Camp in Sudan.
The idea behind Red Nose Day was to have one day of the year when everyone does something silly or comedic to raise money for Comic Relief, a non-profit organization.
1988 marked the year of the first Red Nose Day, with over 150 celebrities and comedians taking part, 30 million viewers and $19 million (£15 million) raised.
This was also when the “Red Nose” concept was born and was the first year the Red Nose became the logo and title for the day.
The second Red Nose Day took place the following year in 1989, with Terry Wogan as the host. This year over $34 million (£27 million) was raised.
The Red Nose Design for 1989 was the same as that in 1988, but with the words “My Nose” embossed in it to help differentiate it from the previous year.
It wasn’t until 1991 that the third Red Nose Day was held, but it still managed to raise over £25 million (£20 million).
The design for 1991’s Red Nose was again, based on the first design, but this year had additional arms and hands to make it more fun.
1993 marked the year that the squishy tomato Red Nose, this represented the theme for the year which was squashing poverty. 3,307,000 squishy red noses were sold in this year.
Around 72% of the population of the UK took part in Red Nose Day 1993.
10 years on from the launch, 1995, being the 5th Red Nose Day, carried a theme of “What a difference a day makes”, with the aim to see how much could be raised in only one day, and as a result $28 million (£22 million) was raised.
The Red Noses for 1995 were color changing, and went from being red to yellow or red to pink.
Red Nose Day 1997 had the support of The Spice Girls, who sold 700,000 copies of their single to raise money for Comic Relief.
The Red Nose design for 1997 was a fluffy Red Nose.
In 1999 Sainsbury’s Supermarket teamed up with comic relief to sell their Red Noses and raised an amazing $108 million (£84 million).
1999 was the 7th Red Nose Day and marked the record breaking year for amount raised solely through donations on the day, coming in at $45 million (£35 million). This is excluding any amounts raised from selling Red Noses.
Glittery Red Noses! That’s correct, 1999 saw the year of the glittery Red Nose.
The next Red Nose Day was held in 2001, the first in the millennium and the design for this year’s Red Nose was a squishy Red Nose with a tongue that pops out when you squeeze it. The silly face was a response to the theme “Pants to poverty”.
2003’s Red Nose came with hair gel! As the years went on the designs got more involved and this year had a red nose with a tuft of red hair that you were encouraged to style with its own pot of hair gel.
20 years on from the launch, 2005 marked the 10th Red Nose Day and this time had another wacky hairstyle that was multicolored and as a result $84 million (£65 million) was raised.
Design your own Red Nose! 2007 had a red spongy nose that came with stickers for you to personalize and make you own red nose.
2009 was the first Red Nose Day that had a choice of noses. There were three designs to choose from, all with silly faces. This also marked the year that most money had been raised, coming in at $105 million (£82.3 million).
Then in 2011, they beat their record, raising a whopping $139 million (£108.4 million) for charity. They also decided to keep the three Red Nose designs and adapt them slightly.
Dinosaurs were the theme for the 14th Red Nose Day! A total of $129 million (£100 million) was raised for the charity this year.
2015 marked 30 years since the first Red Nose Day, and this year being the 15th had the biggest selection of red noses yet. They came in a surprise bag, so it was a lucky dip as to which nose you got and this led to people buying multiple so they could have the complete set.
The first Red Nose Day held in Australia was in 1987 in Victoria, but it wasn’t until a year later that it was launched nationally.
Red Nose Day goes to America! 2015 saw the first ever Red Nose Day held in America, raising $29 million (£23 million) from USA.
New Zealand held their first Red Nose Day event back in 1989 and continued to run it into the late 1990s, but the event took a break and wasn’t resurrected until 2010.
Comic Relief has raised over $1.29 billion (£1 billion) since it started in 1985.
Red Nose Day is an important event for Britain and maybe one day will be the same in America.
It is a day where everyone can have some fun, be silly and let loose, which is not only liberating for each individual, but allows everyone to laugh together and raise funds for a great cause.
