BBC radio DJ Greg James raises £1m for Sport Relief

BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James has raised more than £1 million for Sport Relief with his gruelling bike and mountain challenge that included scaling Ben Nevis.

BBC Radio 1 presenter Greg James

James climbed the UK’s three highest mountains and cycled between the distances.

He was forced to do it in two separate stints as adverse weather conditions caused by the ‘Beast from the East’ gave him no option but to pull out in early March.

The DJ finally completed the challenge two weeks later after reaching the summit of Ben Nevis and has raised £1,090,522.

During the live Sport Relief appeal show, he said he was “done” with mountains, but that he wants to keep working with Sport Relief in order to raise awareness of issues around mental health.

Celebrities tonight joined together to kick off the Sport Relief 2018 television event in order to raise money for worthy causes across the UK and overseas.

The six-hour BBC telethon was introduced by presenters Davina McCall, Gary Lineker and Ore Oduba and saw Kylie Minogue take to the stage to perform her song Dancing.

Following her performance, the Australian-born singer urged viewers to “donate through the night” to raise money for Sport Relief.

Minogue was later seen manning the phones along with others, including TV presenters Claudia Winkleman and Paddy McGuinness, to take donations from members of the public.

Hollywood actor Cuba Gooding Jr, The One Show host Alex Jones and fitness coach Joe Wicks were among other stars making appearances on the programme.

The televised event came after Liz Warner, chief executive of Comic Relief - which runs Sport Relief and Red Nose Day - told the Guardian viewers would see a difference in their on-location appeals.

The charity had been criticised for its celebrity-fronted appeal clips and complaints were raised about “poverty tourism”.

Ms Warner said Sport Relief would feature a different type of film, and will see “people talking in the first person in their own voices, with local heroes and local heroines talking to us about the work they’re doing.”

She added: “You won’t see a celebrity standing in front of people talking about them. You’ll see people talking for themselves.”