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Letters Live stars take to stage in support of RNLI’s 200 years of lifesaving

Lifeboats News Release

Stars of the stage and screen have performed in support of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Performers from Letters Live stood on the stage at the curtain call with the audience applauding

Andy Paradise

Stars included Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Carr and Jameela Jamil

A stellar line-up including Benedict Cumberbatch, Jessie Ware, Alan Carr, Asim Chaudhry, Geri Halliwell, Bella Ramsey, Jameela Jamil, Richard Ayoade, Ian Wright and Ian McShane appeared on stage at a special edition of Letters Live in recognition of the RNLI’s 200th anniversary year.

Letters Live sees ‘letters of note, read by people of note, to a live audience’.

Joining the superstar cast list on stage was retired headmaster Martin Stephen who read out the poignant letter of thanks he wrote to Dunbar RNLI’s volunteer crew in 2020, 50 years after they saved his life in the North Sea.

Martin, 75, drew gasps from the audience – which included among them volunteers, staff and supporters of the RNLI – when he read his letter.

He said: ‘I had tried and failed to rescue my 11-year-old cousin who had been swept off the rocks by a freak wave. I had been face down in the water for several minutes, and I was told later that Mr (David) Brunton had dived in fully clothed as I started to sink. I was given artificial respiration.

‘I’ve had 50 years of the happiest possible marriage, three sons and five grandchildren. All in all I’ve been able to live a wonderful life, but only because of the bravery of one man, the skill of another and the dedication and courage of the crew of the Dunbar lifeboat. I owe you everything.’

The RNLI was the nominated charity for the 12 December event and will benefit from the proceeds of the sold-out performance.

RNLI Fundraising Director Jayne George said: ‘The RNLI is honoured to be the nominated charity for this wonderful event in recognition of our 200 years of lifesaving and we thank the supremely talented performers, Letters Live, their partner Montblanc, The Royal Albert Hall and the audience for supporting us in such a memorable way to help save lives at sea.

‘The night was a reminder of the joy, power and emotion of the written word as brilliantly demonstrated by Martin Stephen reading his own letter of thanks to the volunteer lifeboat crew who saved his life.

‘People like Martin are the reason our volunteer crews are ready to answer their pagers 365 days a year, any time of the day or night and whatever the weather – ready to drop whatever they are doing to go and help others.’

To donate to the charity that saves lives at sea go to rnli.org/letterslive

RNLI media contacts

For more information please contact the RNLI Press Office on 01202 336789 or [email protected]

About Letters Live

Letters Live first took place in December 2013 at the Tabernacle in London and quickly established itself as a powerful and dynamic event format that attracted outstanding talents to performing remarkable, and often timely, letters in front of a live audience. Inspired by Shaun Usher’s international best-selling Letters of Note series and Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, Letters Live is a live celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence. Letters Live has brought to the stage letters written by people as varied as David Bowie, Mohandas Gandhi, Elvis Presley, Charlotte Bronte, James Baldwin and Che Guevara, and has seen the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Ian McKellen, Kylie Minogue, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nick Cave, Caitlin Moran, Gillian Anderson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Tom Hiddleston, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Stephen Fry and Jude Law deliver unique, extraordinary performances. The shows are produced by Adam Ackland, Jamie Byng, Benedict Cumberbatch, Aimie Sullivan and Shaun Usher

Martin Stephen stood at the Letters Live lectern reading his letter of thanks to the RNLI at the Royal Albert Hall

Andy Paradise

Martin Stephen thanked the RNLI crew who rescued him from the North Sea in 1970
Three RNLI crew members from Thames lifeboat stations stood outside the Royal Albert Hall at night in full kit, holding their helmets, ahead of the start of Letters Live

Charles Henderson

RNLI Thames crew members Gianna Saccomani (Teddington), Aaron Reynolds (Gravesend) and Jan Lowe (Teddington)

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.

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