The Who and the why of it
Updated on 08 April 2008
Ahead of his annual fundraising concerts at the Albert Hall The Who's frontman Roger Daltrey tells Stephanie West why he does it.
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend will perform a rare acoustic set this weekend, as The Who frontman continues his decade-long mission to fund hospital wards for teenagers with cancer.
Every year Daltrey rallies his friends for a series of concerts for the 'Teenage Cancer Trust' at the Royal Albert Hall, this year featuring Paul Weller, Muse and rising new star, Duffy.
But, as Stephanie West reports, Daltrey's involvement is year-round:
A constant visitor to the wards he's helped to establish Roger Daltrey's raised £4.5m to fund teenage cancer units in hospitals.
Teenagers are treated in them alongside their peers, like one 16-year-old from Bexleyheath who'd just won trials to play rugby for England's under 16 squad, when he found out he was ill.
Musically more from his generation it's the parents who tend to stop and ask for autographs from Daltrey here in a state-of-the-art unit, which is one of eight the teenage cancer trust has so far built for the NHS to run.
From the start The Who were a band synonymous with teenage rebellion and Daltrey says that was one of the reasons he became the patron of the teenage cancer trust a decade ago
So every year he gets his friends to play a week of concerts marked by unusual collaborations. Last year Paul Weller teamed up with Noel Gallagher for one night. This year he's collared Muse, Madness and Duffy.
Six teenagers are diagnosed with cancer in Britain every da. So far this trust has built teenage units in cities including Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow, and they'll open four more this year. But Daltrey says he's seen amazing stories on the wards:
"There is a young boy who quite honestly says that he was going very wrong in his life and would have ended up really on the wrong side of the tracks. He didn't care about anyone.
How he puts it is 'that I didn't care about anyone other than me, now I care about everybody'."
Daltrey will close the week of concerts playing with Pete Townsend this Sunday.
