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[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