Dear friends and colleagues: I'm doing my annual charity marathon on April 22, and I'll be raising funds again for Ellie's Friends, which was set up in memory of Sky News journalist Ellie Jeffery who died tragically young of secondary breast cancer in 2012. It's now part of Maggie's, and continues to do its wonderful work to help cancer sufferers and their families.

As a bonus, this year I'll be subjecting myself to ridicule by attempting to set a Guinness World Record in one of their fancy dress categories. Some of you may remember I tried this in the "baby" category in 2013, but came up 5 minutes short. That record is now well out of my reach, so I have drawn inspiration from my profession as someone who writes for a living, and will dress as a pencil, gunning for a record for the "fastest marathon dressed as a stationery item (male)." The costume guidelines state it mus extend from the shoulders to below the knees, and be "rigid in structure." So it's not going to be easy. That's got to be worth a few bob?

As usual, my employer, Bloomberg will match donations up to a certain amount, and if you're a UK taxpayer, the taxman gives 20p in the pound to the charity. So your donation more than doubles! That means even a pound is not to be sneezed at, because it's worth £2.20 to Maggie's and Ellie's Friends.

Many thanks!