Norfolk rock star's charity weight loss
Last updated: 13/11/2009 14:45:00
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| Rick Wakeman |
Rock legend Rick Wakeman might be renowned for being a grumpy old man but he was happy to hear he had lost weight - but piled on the pounds for charity.
Mr Wakeman, who was classically trained at the Royal College of Music and performed in the Strawbs and Yes before producing renowned solo works, pledged to lose weight after confessing he was fed up with being overweight.
The music star, from Scole, near Diss, made the confession on BBC Radio Norfolk's morning show live on air last month and accepted a challenge to lose as much weight as he could by Christmas - and help raise cash for the Salvation Army at the same time.
Mr Wakeman was back at The Forum yesterdayfor his mid-term weigh in live on the show with presenters Graham Barnard and Karen Buchanan watching on. His final weigh-in will take place on December 21.
When he started the challenge Mr Wakeman weighed in at just over 19st but in taking the scales yesterday was just over 18st 5lbs making a total loss of 9lbs.
He said: “That's quite encouraging, I'm chuffed. I said I wanted to lose 2st by December 21 and if I do the same again it will be a stone and a half.
“I'm going to carry it on right into next year and want to get down to 14st 7lbs. It's involved changes that don't affect your lifestyle because if you do something that's going to radically change your lifestyle you can't keep it up. There's no point me saying I'm going to go jogging for three miles a day because I won't. But things like walking up the stairs and trotting up escalators at train stations is not drastically changing your lifestyle.”
Radio Norfolk listeners have so far pledged just over £1,000 to the Salvation Army in support of Mr Wakeman's weight loss and he hopes to raise as much cash as possible.
You can sponsor Rick by going onto his charity web page www.justgiving.co.uk/rick-wakeman-slimathon or by sending a cheque to Rick Wakeman's Salvation Army Appeal c/o BBC Radio Norfolk, The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich, NR2 1BH.