FUNNY folk from across Oxfordshire popped on a red nose yesterday and helped towards a record-breaking Comic Relief.

Wacky clothes, unusual stunts and bizarre antics from an army of fundraisers helped pull in a staggering £71m for the charity nationwide.

The BBC's star-studded telethon was the most-watched show of the day in the UK, with star turns from the likes of Ed Sheeran, James Corden and a reunion with the cast of Love Actually pulling in as many as 7.6m viewers. 

And across Oxfordshire yesterday, people played their part and did 'something funny for money' for Red Nose Day, which has been held every two years since 1985.

Pupils at a Didcot school got to let their hair down and ditch the homework for a day of telling jokes and dressing up for this year’s Comic Relief.

School children at Northbourne Primary School, Didcot, were kitted out in red yesterday to do their part in the fundraiser.

The school smashed last year’s total of £251 this time round and pupils raised an impressive £425.33 for good causes for their efforts.

Teacher at the school Rebecca Parson said: “The school arranged for the ‘tell-ajoke’ competition and children were encouraged to bring jokes from home.

“They could come in wearing red clothes and red hair and they all helped in selling red noses, and some of them were smeared with red by the end of the day.

“The best thing was that they came up with all of it themselves and collected the money themselves.

“It was nice to do something positive.”

  • OLYMPIC medallist Katherine Grainger made a guest appearance to take part in Oxford Brookes University’s 24-hour ‘spinathon’.

Brookes Sport began their indoor charity cycle on Thursday at 8pm before finishing at 8pm last night. Honoured as the country’s most successful female Olympian, Ms Grainger, left, turned up to raise money for the Comic Relief drive at 11am.

As of last night,  the university was about half way to reaching its £500 target.

  • PUPILS at Windmill Primary School dressed up in red for a day of fun activities, from dancing to football, to raise money for Comic Relief. Headteacher Lynn Knapp said it was a busy day of fun and games for pupils and teachers.

She said: “They dressed up in silly clothes – all in red – and then we had a series of ‘a-thons’, such as a ‘dance-a-thon’ and a ‘football-a-thon’, which went on all through the day.

“It was very active. All of the pupils had money and paid £1 for the dressing-up. We have 600 pupils and have probably made up to £800.”

She added: “I would like to think the teachers had fun too. “They all dressed up and everyone was shattered by the end of the day so it must have been fun.”

  • THE store manager at Headington’s Oxfam braved the chilly weather to raise a smile and some cash for Comic Relief.

Dressed in a colourful bear suit, Tom Blaseby, 28, joined staff and customers with a ‘toys and games’ theme to bring out the generosity of the local community.

He said: “We have been telling jokes and making people laugh. It has been really good, really fun.

“There’s been plenty of people who have stopped and put in £20 or £30. One guy gave us £100 which was very nice of him.

“We’re seeing the generosity of Oxford.”

He added that the shop raised more money than any other Oxfam shop in the city last year and he hoped to do the same again.