Life/Lifestyle/9
A Mo-numental Movember gets off to a fluffy start with its ten-year anniversary. The moustachioed Paul McIntyre reports It’s that time of year when people throughout the country and around the world grow their facial hair with joyous abandon. Yes, it’s ‘Movember’. And what’s more, it’s the popular event’s 10th anniversary. With campaigns in 21 different countries, 1,127,152 participants and a record amount of £92.0 million raised in the last year, it is hard to believe that the prolific Movember campaign began with just two men in the pub 10 years ago. Travis Garone and Luke Slattery from Melbourne, Australia sat down for a drink in 2003 and begun discussing the fate of the moustache, joking that they should be the ones to bring it back. from there, they roped 30 of their friends into joining them and, inspired by a friend’s mother fundraising for breast cancer, decided to turn the challenge into a campaign about prostate cancer. From there the unique idea grew, within a year a website and group had been officially established, 450 ‘mo bros and sisters’ joined the campaign, and $54 Australian Dollars were
raised for Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA), thelargest cheque the foundation had ever received. By 2005 the PCFA had become Movember’s official men’s health partner and over 9,300 participants helped to raise $1.2 million dollars for the charity. Within 3 years the Movember campaign had spread to Spain, the USA, Canada, Ireland, the UK and New Zeland and funds had reached an all-time high of over £14 million which went to both the PCFA and the ‘beyondblue’ depression and anxiety initiative. In 2011 the campaign reached was ranked in the top 100 out of 5 million NGOs in the world by the Global Journal based on impact, innovation and sustainability. Throughout their campaign, the charity has followed the same fundamental rules that they set out when they started in 2003: to run a fun, accountable, caring, collaborative, humble, innovative, remarkable, changing agent.
Liverpool Life’s Moustache Hall Of Fame
WE NAME OUR TOP LIP-FURNITURE
Businesses are now joining in with the fun of Movember, with special offers in return for donations to the cause.
Most comedic
Most iconic
Most 1970s
Most charismatic
Richard Pryor
Charlie Chaplin
One of the most recognisable people who ever lived, Chaplin was a movie legend who’s distinctive look involved a now iconic toothbrush moustache.
Additional reporting by Liberty Chrismas
Businesses get their Movember on
milestone
Freddie Mercury
Most bountiful
Burt Reynolds One of the biggest movie stars of the 1970s, during which he starred in ‘Smokey and the Bandit’, Reynolds sports a moustache with panache.
Frontman of the legendary British band Queen, Mercury is considered by many as one of the greatest musical showman ever. His moustache wasn’t bad either!
Most gravitydefying
An all-time great stand-up comedian, Pryor was lauded for satirising race relations in hysterical fashion. And he did it all while sporting a terrific moustache.
Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat)
Most 1980s Groucho Marx
Known for his flamboyant performances as outrageous characters, actor Sacha Baron Cohen brought Borat to life in 2006, complete with glorious moustache.
Liverpool One restaurant Byron is offering free burgers to those taking part in the month. Once you register at Movember.com, and raise £25 in sponsorship, you’ll be rewarded with a free hamburger for everyday of November. Since 2010, Byron have contributed over £120,000 to the cause.
Also doing their bit for Movember is local spa Urban Calm . They’re getting the girls involved, removing their tash and donating £1 to the charity ‘Mens Prostate Cancer’ for every lip wax they do throughout November.
Salvador Dalí
Most deductive
A surrealist painter who inspired modern artists such as Damien Hirst, the incomparable Dalí sported a gravity-defying moustache that reflected his eccentricity.
Most like a caterpillar
The middle child of the five Marx Brothers, comedian and film star Groucho was known for his trademark look – nose, cigar, glasses and, of course, moustache.
Tom Selleck
Most fear-inspiring
One of the 1980s most definitive performers, Selleck was the titular character in the wildly popular ‘Magnum, P.I.’. And of course the heartthrob is most remembered for his glorious moustache.
David Suchet (Hercule Poirot)
Ian Rush
Suchet has brought to life Hercule Poirot since 1989, and has sported the famous detective’s inimitable moustache throughout.
The greatest goal scorer in the history of Liverpool FC, Rush was almost as famous for his moustache as he was his predatory finishing in front of goal.