Ever since I was a kid, Children In Need has always been one of those big TV events of the year that I really, really looked forward to.
That steady reliability as the autumn months rolled round, the accompanying charity single release, and of course the massive telethon on the night itself too.
There's something magic about it and the way it captures the public goodwill is truly heartwarming.
This year's show has something extra thrown into the mix - a big one-off pop gig! Taking place at Manchester's MEN Arena on the 17th November, the whole thing will be shown on BBC1 at 8pm.
The line-up is as follows:
Michael Buble
Coldplay
Elbow
JLS
Lady Gaga
Hugh Laurie
James Morrison
N Dubz
Snow Patrol
Ed Sheeran
Tickets go on sale at 9am this Friday (16th September)
Gary Barlow, who's helping to put together this year's Children in Need charity single, had this to say: “I’m so thrilled that these incredible artists are giving their time for such a special charity that is very close to my heart. I can’t wait to see it all come together on November 17th, there are still some great acts we're keeping up our sleeve to announce in the coming weeks and who knows, I might even sing a little something on the night too.”
Last week Matt Cardle premiered his new single Run For Your Life, which we rather like, and now he's giving you the chance to get an even bigger fill of him when he takes to that stage at London's prestigious KOKO.
Matt plays the venue on the 3rd October and tickets go on sale at 9am this Friday (16th September) - Make sure you get in there quickly, they're bound to go fast!
The X Factor star's album Letters is out on the 17th October and can be pre-ordered here.
Everyone loves Jessie J right now. Even if you're not the biggest fan of her music, there's something so wonderfully charming and down to earth about her personality that you can't help but fall for her a little.
It's also fair to say she's had Quite A Lot of success this year already with her first three singles storming up the charts - her latest, Nobody's Perfect is finally out 'properly' this week with some bonus remixes/alternate versions on iTunes.
Best of all though is that the delightful Jessie has announced a whole heap of new UK tour dates. The rush for her last tour was absolutely mad; venues like London were sold out in under fifteen minutes - so if you didn't manage to catch her last time, now's your chance - just remember to be quick!
And just as a footnote, it's amazing to see Jessie already including an arena date on her tour like Cardiff - a real sign of how far she's already come.
The new UK tour dates are as follows:
OCTOBER
MONDAY 17 BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY
WEDNESDAY 19 DONCASTER DOME
FRIDAY 21 MANCHESTER O2 APOLLO
SATURDAY 22 LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY
SUNDAY 23 BOURNEMOUTH BIC
TUESDAY 25 EDINBURGH USHER HALL
WEDNESDAY 26 BRIDLINGTON SPA
THURSDAY 27 PLYMOUTH PAVILIONS
MONDAY 29 CARDIFF MOTORPOINT ARENA
SUNDAY 30 LEEDS O2 ACADEMY
NOVEMBER
TUESDAY 01 LONDON HMV HAMMERSMITH APOLLO
THURSDAY 03 BRIGHTON CENTRE
Here's some good news, two of the largest ticket sellers in the UK have launched an initiative to help protects you from fraudulent ticket sellers. Livenation and Festival Republic will now send out tickets to buyers as soon as possible, instead of just a few weeks before the event, as previously was often the case. This helps to expose fraudulent sites who obviously have no genuine tickets to send out, blaming this on the ticket suppliers going bust or other such bollocks like that.
It's a fantastic idea really - I know personally it's always stressful waiting for tickets to arrive - I've even had situations where the tickets only arrived a few days before the event. This new move offers both peace of mind and represents a firm step forwards in the battle against the scum who seek to make money by abusing the trust of ordinary people. Astonishing figures show that £168 million is lost annually through ticket fraud. This is not a small scale issue, it's big money.
This is by no means the end of ticket fraud. Indeed, we may never see the end to the shady business. But this is most definitely a move in the right direction.
