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[from thisiswiltshire.co.uk]

A cafe owner in Bradford on Avon donned a pair of black shiny stilettos to welcome cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard as he tackled the Wiltshire stretch of a 1,000 mile charity run across Britain.

Mo Bennie, 50, who runs Granny Mo’s, on the banks of the Kennet and Avon Canal, organised a welcoming party for 47-year-old Izzard, who arrived in the town on Thursday night.

Izzard, who is raising money for Comic Relief campaign Sport Relief, is completing the equivalent of 34 marathons accompanied by a documentary team from Tiger Aspect Productions and an ice cream van, which is giving away the treats in return for donations.

Miss Bennie and a crowd of about 20 people welcomed him to Bradford about 8.30pm, after he negotiated the canal towpath from Devizes, and the comedian quickly tucked into cake and a glass of milk.

Miss Bennie said: “I organised a welcoming party for him with some of the boaters so when he came down the towpath he was extremely amazed to see how many people were here cheering him on. He was extremely tired.

“I worse some stilettos in honour of him.

“He is a really, really lovely man. He’s extremely good looking.

“There was a lot of alcohol flowing during the night and general excitement. It was a pleasure to see him.”

To cap the experience, Miss Bennie was amazed to see the comedian lying on a bed by the lock outside her cafe on Friday morning, having his feet tended to before attempting the next stretch of the run towards Bathampton and onto Bristol.

“I spoke to him and he gave me a great big hug,” Miss Bennie said.

“I admire what he is doing.

Izzard is carrying a St George flag throughout the entire challenge, which he started in Trafalgar Square, London, on Monday, July 27. He is updating his fans through his Twitter page.

The stand-up comic, whose sets include Dress to Kill and Definite Article, has also appeared in a host of films including Velvet Goldmine, Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen, The Chronicles of Narnia and Valkyrie.

Courtesy of JustJean 🙂 Click pic below for more screencaps!

[from thisiswiltshire.co.uk]

Comedian Eddie Izzard swept into Devizes this afternoon as part of his 1,000 mile running challenge for charity.

Mr Izzard, 47, is running about 30 miles a day in seven weeks to raise money for Sport Relief.

He set off from London on Monday and today ran from Stonehenge up the A360 into Devizes, on to Bradford-on-Avon and finishing the day at Bathampton.

Mr Izzard ran into Devizes Market Place carrying an England flag.

He stopped and chatted with office workers and shoppers for about 20 minutes and posed for photos.

Accompanying him on his journey is an ice cream van manned by his friend Paul Strachan who serves ice creams free of charge but encourages donations to Sport Relief.

Mr Izzard has only done four weeks training for the mammoth feat.

When he arrived in Devizes he said: “My feet are killing me. My legs are not too bad but it’s tough.”

He sipped a pint of Wadworth 6X brought out to him by Su Stafford, visitor manager at Wadworth Brewery’s visitor centre.

Angela Tadman who works at accountants David Owen & Co in the Market Place was among those who met Mr Izzard.

She said: “I was following him on Twitter and saw that he had arrived in Wiltshire yesterday. I was so pleased when we learned he was coming to Devizes.

“He’s brilliant and he’s doing a really good job.”

Linda Norcross and her children William, ten, Felicity, six, and Clara, three, chatted with Mr Izzard.

Mrs Norcross, a teacher who lives in Chitterne, said: “My children went to the same school as Eddy in Sussex so we were talking to him about that.

“He was great. It was nice that he stopped and had the time to talk to people.”

Mr Izzard, who gives regular updates on his progress on Twitter, is accompanied by a film crew who are making three one hour documentaries to be broadcast on BBC1 and BBC3 in March 2010.

Mr Izzard will be running to Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh and back to London. He will be carrying a national flag for each country he is in.

To sponsor him go to www.eddieizzard.com

Andover Sound's Gary Haberfield tracked down Eddie just outside Charlton.

Andover Sound received reports that legendary comedian and actor Eddie Izzard had been spotted running through North West Hampshire.

So we hot footed it through the town to try to track him down…and we did!

Eddie is running the length and breadth of the UK in aid of Sport Relief and came through Whitchurch and Andover as part of the challenge.

• Click here to listen to Adrian Clarkson chatting to Eddie.

[From Yahoo UK]

Eddie Izzard is making a bid to run more than 1,000 miles in seven weeks to raise cash for Sport Relief.

The comedian, 47, who has only been training for around a month, set off on his adventure from London on Monday and ran with a bandaged leg on Tuesday as he reached the Basingstoke area of Hampshire.

Izzard’s publicist, Karon Maskill, who described him as “not a runner”, said the comedian – who will run about 30 miles a day – went into training just four weeks ago. Izzard will carry flags representing the countries he runs through as he continues his epic Eddie Iz Running challenge, taking in Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh.

He has already sustained a few minor injuries, including one to his hamstring during training, as well as shin problems.

“He got a blister which started today,” Ms Maskill said on Tuesday.

She said of Izzard’s feat: “It’s an idea that’s been bubbling for 10 years.”

Ms Maskill said the response from the public had been good, adding: “They’re honking him with their horn.”

An ice cream van accompanying Izzard is giving out ice creams in the hope that people will make donations in return. Two tents, a camper van and a sports therapist are also among Izzard’s entourage.

The public can show their support by sponsoring Izzard via his website www.eddieizzard.com and follow his incredible journey on his Twitter feed www.twitter.com/eddieizzard.

Since 2002, the Sport Relief charity has raised millions of pounds and next year’s event will take place between March 19 to 21.

• MORE INFO ON RAGE

2. Eddie Izzard: Unrepeatable

If you haven’t seen it already, do. Izzard’s absent-minded, surreal comedy is superbly written and effortlessly charming, which will come in handy when that promised political career takes off.

• FULL LIST HERE

[from getsurrey.co.uk]

COMEDIAN Eddie Izzard has been gathering support from the people of Surrey and Hampshire as he attempts a charity run from London to Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh before returning to the English capital.

He is covering 30 miles a day in aid of Sport Relief, and visited Staines, Egham and Bagshot after setting off from Trafalgar Square at 6am on Monday.

Tuesday morning saw him arriving in Camberley at about 8.30am, then continuing on the A30 through Hartley Wintney and Hook.

Izzard’s journey so far has taken him past the Royal Holloway university campus in Egham, and he ended his first day at The Windle Brook pub in Bagshot.

I think some people are going “who is this idiot, get out of the way”, but the majority of people are honking their horns to say hello.

He is posting Twitter updates on his progress, and on leaving Bagshot on Tuesday morning said he was “feeling a bit rough”.

But speaking to this website on Tuesday afternoon, Izzard said: “After a couple of miles I felt better, and weirdly I’m feeling better than I did on the first day.

“I seem to be moving along and keeping up an average of five miles an hour, which is good. The weather’s been cloudy, but it’s warm behind it.”

Izzard said the reception he had been getting from members of the public in Surrey and Hampshire was “generally very good”.

“I think some people are going ‘who is this idiot, get out of the way’, but the majority of people are honking their horns to say hello,” he said.

“We finished [on Monday] at a pub in Bagshot, they were nice there.

“We all slumped down and they showed us old pictures of Bagshot where there were no cars on the street.”

Ice cream van

The pub’s assistant manager, Kim Stevens, said Izzard bought a bottle of champagne for £26.50.

She added: “It was about half past three, his camera crew came in first and said ‘do you mind if we borrow your plug, Eddie Izzard is running up the road’. So it was a bit of a surprise.

“Eddie didn’t stay any longer than 15 or 20 minutes, he said he had to go and have a bath within an hour of finishing running.

“He was nice, he was looking around the pub at the pictures. We were quite quiet at the time, there wasn’t really anyone else here, but he did have photos taken with some people.”

On Tuesday, Izzard moved on through Camberley and down to Hartley Wintney, where he said people were waving out of windows.

But he added: “They’d blocked off the road because of a sewage problem, so there was no-one around because no cars were allowed in. It was quite unearthly.”

“Fantastic effort”

In Hook, he said people were chasing the ice cream van which is following him and giving away ice creams in return for donations.

Izzard has a small support group of route planners and a sports therapist for any medical or nutritional requirements.

One person posted a comment on his website saying they had seen him on the A315 Staines Road heading into Surrey, while another said: “Just spotted Eddie running along the A30 between Sunningdale and Windlesham. All alone but for his little England flag. Fantastic effort.”

****

Follow Eddie’s progress HERE.

Keep track of Eddie on his marathon run from London to…well, London. By way of Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh! Click the icon below:

From Eddie’s Twitter: “I am going to try to run for Sport Relief charity around the whole of UK. London to Cardiff to Belfast to Edinburgh to London. I leave now.”

You can sponsor Eddie HERE!

UPDATE: From Chortle.co.uk

Eddie Izzard is attempting to run the length and breadth of the UK – jogging more than 1,100 miles over the next few weeks.

He began his effort in Trafalgar Square at 6.30am this morning, en route for Cardiff. By this evening he had made it as far as Egham in Surrey.

From the Welsh capital, he will run to Belfast – except for the Irish Sea bit – and then to Scotland, before returning back to London.

The grueling schedule, in aid of Sport Relief, means he has to run almost 30 miles a day for seven weeks.

During a warm-up jog in London’s East End last week he ran straight into a street brawl.

The 47-year-old spotted a man a man being kicked in the head by another outside a Whitechapel pub, and stepped in to break it up.