Ball keeps on rolling

~ Tiscali TV Guide - 15/09/09 ~

It's been a busy weekend for Michael Ball, with Friday's appearance on the first hour-long edition of The One Show, followed by the first dates of his UK tour in Oxford and Bristol.

Aside from the rest of those gigs, he's also looking forward to taking hit musical Hairspray on a UK tour in 2010, and preparing a Christmas charity gig.

He took a few minutes off from his busy schedule to talk about the latter: "It's for the Shooting Star children's hospice, which is in Hampton," he explains. "I had this idea. I suddenly thought it'd be nice to do at a kids' school.

"Our family, there's a school they go to in Cobham [Surrey], and I went to them and said: 'Look, I'd like to put on a full on concert but I want to do it in your school hall and charge a lot of money for the tickets.

"It'll be the first of many concerts or events I'm going to do for them, and they've said: 'Absolutely. We'd love you to do it.'"

However, as you might imagine, it won't be as big as some of the gigs he's playing this autumn.

"There's only going to be 650 seats," explains Michael. "It'll be a first come first served basis; 75 quid a ticket, so it's not cheap, but it'll be a special night I think. And it's a fantastic charity."

If you can't see Michael on tour or at the Shooting Star charity event, the good news is he'll back on Radio 2 next Sunday hosting his Sunday Brunch show.