Red Nose Day 2022: When did Red Nose Day start? Who started comic relief – and why we wear red noses

Every mid-March, people across the UK make iconic red noses and take part in fundraisers to raise money to alleviate child poverty and hunger.

The UK’s witty fundraising campaign, led by Comic Relief, sees Red Nose Day every two years – with schools, shops and celebrities raising money to help Comic Relief’s mission to tackle poverty in the UK and around the world.

The event is an iconic one in British entertainment, with stars such as David Tennant, Dawn French, Alesha Dixon and Sir Lenny Henry, who treat viewers who tune in to comic relief on BBC to an extravaganza of live comedy and performances.

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Red Nose Day is an important day in every school and fundraising calendar – but when did it first start?

Here’s how Red Nose Day started, who created comic relief and why we wear red noses on this day.

Red Nose Day itself only started three years after Comic Relief was first launched on Christmas 1985 from a refugee camp in Sudan.

The first Red Nose Day was held on Friday 5 February 1988, hosted by Sir Lenny Henry and Griff Rhys Jones, and broadcast on BBC One.

More than 30 million people voted to watch a Blackadder special episode, starring The Young Ones at University Challenge, Rowan Atkinson and Monty Python Sketcher and a recent comedy routine starring Jonathan Ross, Lenny Henry and Griff Rhys Jones.

In total, the first Red Nose Day raised more than £ 15 million for causes in the UK and Africa and helped cement the event as a hallmark of the UK Entertainment Fund.

Looking back on the first Red Nose Day in 2013, Lenny Henry told the Telegraph: “Comic relief these days is much more in line with brilliant floor shows like The X Factor – fast, zappy, presenter – but we just asked everyone to be kind and helpful.

“Of course everything went wrong – the autocue stopped, someone tried to do magic and it did not work, Frankie Howerd came and did not want to stop talking – but people were really excited about the movies.

“I thought that if I was making people laugh and donate, then maybe the kids I visited in the Kibera Slum in Kenya should not be living in a room with a sewer in the middle of it.”

Comic Relief is the charity behind Red Nose Day and Sports Relief fundraising events, and was founded by British screenwriter Richard Curtis and philanthropist Jane Tewson in response to global humanitarian and poverty crises abroad.

Over the years, however, its poverty reduction target has expanded to include the UK – with the charity saying it has helped 11.7 million people worldwide to have access to safe housing, mental health services, education and financial resources in the last two years.

Red Noses have been synonymous with comic relief since Red Nose Day first began, with the event being held to mark the biggest day of comic relief fundraisers.

The simple round red nose, which first appeared in 1988, has changed drastically over the years, with all sorts of attachments, sounds and more added to the iconic red nose over the decades.

With the day being a bonanza of entertainment and comedy, the red nose is reminiscent of the main accessory worn as part of a classic clown costume.

You can see here how the red nose has changed for every Red Nose Day until Comic Relief 2022.