ITV's Telethon 90 charity appeal had collected more than #24m by its

close at 10pm last night, beating the figure raised in the previous

Telethon appeal in 1988 by #3m, with more expected to come in in the

next few days.

The total of #24,127,917 included donations from the Scottish

Television area of #1,411,343, again an increase on the 1988 total.

The money will be distributed to charities around Britain chosen by

local ITV regions.

''It's absolutely wonderful to have beaten the 1988 figure,'' said

weary presenter Michael Aspel at the end of his 27-hour stint fronting

the show, which began at 7pm on Saturday.

''We're delighted that the appeal films and the programme reached so

many hearts. The money raised will make a crucial difference to the

quality of life of thousands of needy people across the country.''

Organiser Miss Yvonne de Valera said: ''We are so thrilled -- it's

just brilliant. It is all due to the generosity of the British people.''

Much of the charity windfall came from thousands of sponsored events

over the bank holiday weekend, ranging from the bizarre to the

positively hazardous.

One man gave a rendition of Rossini's William Tell overture on his

false teeth, and a group of women took tea in an underwater cage

surrounded by sharks, while a team of Morris dancers abseiled down the

Cheddar Gorge. In Buckinghamshire last night stunt driver Dave Berrill

was hurt in a Telethon fundraising event when his car failed to clear a

line of six vehicles at the Milton Keynes Bowl, but was released from

hospital later after treatment for minor injuries.

The programme included link-ups with all the ITV regions, and there

was no shortage of celebrity support. Nicholas Parsons, Nick Owen, and

Lennie Bennett found themselves covered in slime after taking part in a

''gunge-a-game-show-host'' contest. And three Liberal Democrat MPs --

Sir David Steel, Alan Beith, and Archy Kirkwood -- formed a singing

group called the Three Line Whip.

But it was ordinary viewers who came up with the most unusual stunts.

A ''mad major'' played a mouth organ and drum while hanging upside down

from a fork-lift truck, while one loving couple attempted a 27-hour

kiss. Another group formed a 30-mile chain of ring-pull tops from drink

cans.

Support for the Telethon event was not, however, universal. A group of

about 60 disabled demonstrators from the Campaign to Stop Patronage

waved placards reading ''P-- on Pity'' outside the studios of London

Weekend Television. And organisers of a polo match at Kirtlington,

Oxfordshire, in which the Prince of Wales was taking part, blamed a

Telethon event at nearby Blenheim Palace for keeping spectators away.