So there's only a day and a bit of 2012 left, and it's time for the last Sunday Sound of the year... but what to choose?
Well, one of my presents this year was (finally) Annie Lennox's 2010 album, A Christmas Cornucopia. It's a sublime album of carols, which ends with today's track: Universal Child, the album version of which features the African Children's Choir who have more recently sang on Gary Barlow and Lord Lloyd-Webber's Diamond Jubilee song, Sing. You can hear that song on the link above, and find out more about the choir itself by clicking "About Us" button.
Universal Child is a hymn to the human spirit - and an exhortation to personal action to help the children of a continent to have a brighter tomorrow and a real stake in a world where we take peace, rights, freedoms and possessions for granted.
This version is taken from Red Nose Day coverage in 2011 and that point in the night when Annie Lennox is introduced and you know that you are going to be treated to something special. Even without the appeal video footage in the background, this performance is spell-binding and tear-jerking.
It's always a temptation on Red Nose Day to focus on the Comic rather than the Relief but doing so does an injustice to those whose vision was to use comedy to raise funds to help those who need it both here and in Africa.
To that end, I've decided to post this video of Michael Buerk reporting on the Ethiopian famine of 1984. This is the news report that inspired first Band Aid, then Live Aid and, ultimately, Comic Relief.
While the challenges have changed, the need is still there. Please consider giving to Comic Relief - you can do so here.
Last month I posted this on The Inbetweeners' Rude Road Trip. As you may have gathered, I've long been a supporter of Comic Relief, the UK charity founded by (amongst others) Richard Curtis in 1985 and which has been organising Red Nose Day and the accompanying TV charity telethon since 1988.
One of the founding principle of Comic Relief was that every penny raised should go direct to the people whom it aims to support (the split is historically 2/3rds to Africa and 1/3rd to the UK, although support was given to Haiti in the wake of the 2010 earthquake.) To this end, they have a number of partners who either give support in kind or cover the various admin costs associated with large-scale fundraising.
This transparency also extends to those products that are sold to support Red Nose Day, where the amount actually going to Comic Relief is publicised at the point of sale.
Another great reason to support Comic Relief is the way that they use celebrities in fundraising. It is not enough for a celebrity to appear on the show or record a video in support; they'll visit projects that the charity is funding both here and abroad and see the challenges first hand. It is also interesting to note how many stars remain supporters year in year out, even while fame and trends wax and wane,.
A more recent development, kicked off by David Walliam's English Channel swim for Sport Relief, are the sponsored events where groups of celebrities take on gruelling challenges. Last year a group of 8 or so cycled from John O'Groats to Lands End non-stop while the year before a similar number climbed Kilimanjaro. These cleverly cover a number of fan-bases and widen the scope for donations as well as lengthening the period over which funds are raised.
This year Lorraine Kelly, Scott Mills, Kara Tointon, Olly Murs, Ronni Ancona, Dermot O'Leary, Peter White, Nadia Sawalha and Craig David are crossing 100km's of the Kaisut desert in Northern Kenya. You can find out more here and donate here.
In the UK you can also text 'Desert' to 70011 to donate a pound. Or text twice to donate £2... Texts cost £1 plus the cost of one text at your standard network rate.
Anyway, all that was a roundabout way of getting to today's post of one of Dermot O'Leary's latest video diaries from the trek:
