A fundraising video featuring Alan Rickman's voice and a tortoise has been viewed millions of times following the death of the popular actor
A fundraising video created by Oxford University students to raise money for refugees has gone viral following the death Alan Rickman, who recorded the voiceover as one of his last jobs.
The Youtube video features a tortoise eating a strawberry and has now been viewed over 3 million times, raising thousands of pounds for Save the Children and the Refugee Council.
The 30 second clip features the voice of Rickman saying: “We’re trying to make a viral video to help refugees. We’re slowly gathering views as this tortoise munches away. It works like this, the more views the video gets, the more advertising revenue Youtube will give us.”
We’re so grateful that he gave us his time, it was really amazing
The students visited Rickman in his home in November to record the voiceover.
Oliver Phillips, who directed the video and came up with the idea to raise money for charity through Youtube advertising, said: “He was lovely about the whole thing, he was very welcoming and friendly”.
The video was launched on 15 December under the specially created One Click Giving brand and mid January had generated around 180,000 views.
Following the announcement of his death from cancer on 18 January, however, Rickman's fans across the world began to share it in tribute to the much loved star.
Phillips, who is a final year history and politics student at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, was put in touch with Rickman through the his college principal, former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger.
“We’re so grateful that he gave us his time, it was really amazing,” said Phillips.
Youtube were unable to comment on how much money the video has generated for the charities so far.
Phillips, who will consider creating more One Click Giving initiatives after he finishes his exams, added: “We hope people keep watching so we can raise even more money.”
