109 Red Nose Day

As far as I am aware there is nothing as extensive as Red Nose Day (with events both on TV and off and involving so many different people). They do, however, have things in a similar vein.

For example have a look at [url="http://www.telethon.it/"]Telethon[/url] which is directed towards muscular dystrophy and other genetic disorders.

The Italians are also perhaps unique among europeans to organise strikes against TV :) and not without reason as we all know quite well - in Italian but you can read this [url="http://unimondo.oneworld.net/article/view/99511/1/79"]article[/url].

There is also Trenta Ore per La Vita, which appears to be similar to Telethon in that ita aims are to raise money to combat various conditions, such as cancer, MS etc. I've seen a couple of massive pop concerts on tv, held at the Verona Arena, the last couple of times I was out there. I remember the Cranberries and Elton John appearing one year alongside luminaries such as Zucchero, Eros etc. I still don't really know why I didn't pick up the phone and make a donation the year they targeted MS, since I have a personal interest there - my wife suffers from the benighted condition.

We were actually able to participate in RND 05 here in Italy courtesy of BBC Prime which we have via our Italian Sky. A great treat to watch something live! Most of the programmes we get are somewhat older.