From Gordon Brown singing with JLS to Take That duetting with Fake That, Comic Relief founders Emma Freud and Richard Curtis are experts at cajoling celebrities to do their bit for charity.

As it celebrates its 25th birthday, Emma relives her favourite moments...

On March 15th, a massive number of the most talented performers in the UK will be live on BBC1 for Red Nose Day. Many of them will be embarrassing themselves greatly for no more than the cost of their taxi home. They will all have been asked/begged/coerced into it - and for the last 20 years, the person doing that begging has often been me. Hello.

Asking celebrities to do something out of their comfort zone isn't straight forward.

One of this year's missions was finding six people to spend a week negotiating the white water rapids of the Zambezi. Fun, surely? My first request was to Jack Dee. This was his reply:

"It sounds like a completely awful idea on every level, Emma. Even when I Googled Zambezi river the option Zambezi rafting deaths dropped down before I could finish typing. So I don't understand why I'm saying that I'm up for it but I guess that that is what I'm saying. What is it with Comic Relief?"

Comic Relief by the woman who made it happen