Sunday, December 07, 2008

Royal Opera House

The rareified world of the Royal Opera House has never seen anything quite like this. Some of the institution's star performers have stripped naked for a racy charity calendar.

The male and female artists, along with an assortment of backstage staff, posed entirely naked for the project to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

They include Royal Ballet dancer Sian Murphy, 30, photographed in one of the boxes at Covent Garden wearing nothing but diamonds. Miss Murphy dedicated her appearance to her father, who was diagnosed with cancer but survived.
Read about it at the Telegraph and the Daily Mail. Buy it from the Royal Opera House.

Friends of The Arts Forum

A group of artists have shed their painting gowns to pose for a naked calendar. Members of The Friends of The Arts Forum have got together to produce the naughty calendar which features various artists in cheeky poses.

The idea behind the calendar, which is available priced £10, is to raise funds for the art collective which offers support to hundreds of local painters, sculptures and film makers.

Read about it at the Hastings Observer and the Hastings Trust blog.

Trafford Housing Trust

Cheeky Trafford Housing Trust repairmen have stripped down to their tool belts to make a naked calendar for the new year.

Housing association staff bared all for the calendar – to help raise funds for Christie’s Manchester Million appeal and to raise awareness of men’s health checks.

The Repairs Team, including builders, plumbers, joiners, plasterers, electricians and glaziers were inspired to strip down to the bare essentials after a male employee was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Read about it at 24 Dash.com.

Saturday, December 06, 2008

University of East Anglia

In a bid to raise thousands of pounds for the life-saving East air ambulance, the medical students from the University of East Anglia were talked into shedding their clothes for a new charity calendar, which is now on sale.

They joined more than 150 peers from organisations including the student magazine Concrete, the women's rugby team and the korfball team who were willing to get naked - in some instances braving freezing conditions to have their photographs taken.

Read about it at EDP 24.

Friday, December 05, 2008

The Cream of the Crop

A NAKED calendar featuring a Worcestershire student has raised more than £1,000 in its first hour of being on sale.

Cathy Righton, a 22-year-old from Hill, near Pershore, chose to support her fellow students at the Harper Adams University College in Shropshire, along with the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution by stripping off for the fund-raising calendar.

She said: “I wouldn’t normally just get naked in the principal’s garden but as it was for a good cause it would have been rude not to."

Read about it at Worcester News. Buy it from Harper Adams University College.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

The Really Naked Calendar

The National Osteoporosis Society in Britain is giving you the chance to see some of the nation’s favorite stars as you have never seen them before – completely and truly naked.

Joanna Lumley, Michael Parkinson, Joan Rivers, and Bruce Forsyth are among the celebrities that have shed their clothes – and their skin and organs – for the new calendar, which features x-ray photos taken by Nick Veasey of the stars’ bones.
Read about it at Look To The Stars. Buy it from the UK National Osteoporosis Society.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Chiltern Equine Clinic

When the male vets at Chiltern Equine Clinic in Chalfont St Giles wanted to give their female clients a Christmas surprise and raise money for charity at the same time, they decided that the best way to do it was to take their kit off.

The men at the veterinary surgery on Gorelands Lane have gamely agreed to pose naked for a 2009 calendar. Proceeds from sales of the calendar will be donated to the Brooke organisation, a charity which teaches animal husbandry to people working with horses and donkeys in the developing world.

"The men in the pictures are mainly in their 20s and didn't need much persuading to strip," said Linda Dear, practice manager.
Read about it at the Buckinghamshire Advertiser. Find a list of participating merchants at Chiltern Equine Clinic.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Fire Fighters of Peoria

The 2009 Fire Fighters of Peoria calendar, which goes on sale Dec. 5 for $10 at various locations, contains glossy photo spreads of 23 men and women.

"It raises morale and it's fun to do," said Capt. Tim Allen of the calendar for which he posed.

Money generated from the sales of the calendar will be used to fund Afro American Fire Fighters of Peoria community-based events, like a Christmas Party and gift giveaway for underprivileged youth in the area. With help from Peoria's Afro-American Police League, the groups invite about 200 children to the holiday event, which includes a show at a local movie theater, plus concessions.

Proceeds also go toward the Edward Gaines and Alvin Richards scholarship fund. Gaines was the first black Peoria firefighter; Richards the first president of the AAFFP.
Read about it at the Peoria Journal Star.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Bold Beautiful Biathlon

Five of Canada’s top female biathletes shed their lycra race suits to officially launch a nude calendar on Wednesday which they created to celebrate healthy, active women’s bodies, and also to generate money to fuel their quest for the international podium.

Zina Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta.; Sandra Keith, of Calgary; Rosanna Crawford, of Canmore, Alta.; Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man.; and Megan Tandy, of Prince, George, B.C., developed the plan to pose nude together in Bold Beautiful Biathlon, which is on sale now for $25 at www.boldbeautifulbiathlon.com on the Internet.

With a goal of targeting financial support from corporate Canada for their Olympic journey, the five Canadian women turned up the heat on a frigid Calgary morning when they roller skied through the downtown core during noon hour with nothing more than shorts, race bibs for tops, and their traditional biathlon rifles locked on their backs.
Read about it at FasterSkier.com and the Seattle Times.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Lindley Bares All

HERE’S a side of Lindley shopworkers you’ve never seen before!

The brave men and women stripped off to take part in the village’s charity calendar, hoping to raise thousands through their naked antics.

With just a few strategically placed props to cover their modesty, workers from the mainly Lidget Street shops struck some creative poses for their 2009 Lindley Bares All calendar.

The calendars have now gone on sale and all proceeds will go to The Laura Crane Trust.
Read about it at the Huddlersfield Daily Examiner.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom

GETTING your gear off for a calendar shows a bit of cheek, as well as bravery. But women from the Rotary Club of Esperance found it "wonderfully liberating".

The Pearls of Wisdom calendar went on sale in October and has so far raised $15,000 for Rotary's WA Cord Blood Band Esperance Palliative Care.

"It was fantastic fun, even on 10-degree days," Mrs Mackenzie said.
I don't want to diminish the achievement, but I should point out that a "10-degree day" Celsius is 50 degrees for those of us who think in Fahrenheit.

Read about it in Perth Now (the Sunday Times) and the Esperance Express.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Women of Professional Golf 2009

TUNCURRY'S Sarah Kemp has stolen the front cover but Newcastle's Kristie Newton is still one of the glamour girls of golf in a sexy new calendar being unveiled by Golf Australia in Perth today.

Kemp is one of a handful of Australian players on the coveted US LPGA Tour and the 23-year-old is sure to turn heads after the sale of the calendar, which will raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Read about it at the Herald. Buy it from WomensGolfCalendar.com. See also Top Shots 2007.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Beauty and the Beast

This is no ordinary charity calendar.

On one side twelve beautiful women, on the other, twelve beastly hunks to see you through the year.

Which way will yours hang?

All profits from the sale of this calendar go to the Breast Cancer and Testicular Cancer units in North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre at Glan Clwyd Hospital.
Good lord, man, eyes front! That fire is a little too close for comfort!

I don't ordinarily feature two photos from the same calendar, but since they were kind enough to comment my blog to let me know about it... Plus it really is two calendars, depending on how you, er... Well, there's no verb I can use, really.

Beautyandthebeast2099.co.uk has the details, including a link to their Facebook page, where you can see the other 22 images. These are the same people who did "Cheeky Chappies" for 2008.

Newcastle University "Ladies of Leisure"

As an attacking batsman of the highest calibre her dad was the scourge of bowlers worldwide.

Now the daughter of England cricket legend Allan Lamb is hitting people for six in a cheeky charity calendar.

Katie-Ann Lamb, 21, and her lovely maidens - all student pals at Newcastle University - are pushing back the boundaries by baring all to raise funds for breast cancer after friends and relatives were hit by the disease.
Read about it at the Mirror, with a picture gallery at the Telegraph. Buy it here.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Garrison Girls

A TROOP of Army wives has mobilised to strip off and raise money for hero soldiers.

The women — aged from 23 to 39 — have posed naked with a bit of their husbands’ military gear for a 2009 calendar titled Garrison Girls.

Organiser Sarah Bennett Thurston told The Sun: “Our aim is to raise £64,000. We couldn’t do that with cake sales or raffles.”
Read about it at The Sun (and here). Buy it at GarrisonGirls.com.

Downe Women's Institute

A group of Women's Institute members have posed almost naked as animals wearing little more than body paint for a fund-raising calendar.

The group of grandmothers had their bodies painted in the theme of pantomime characters for their annual charity project.

The women, who are from Downe WI, near Bromley, in Kent, have stripped off for the past two years but decided to enlist the help of professional artists to make this year's pictures better.
Read about it in the Telegraph. I haven't found a way to order it.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Pretty in Mink

Following in the tradition of past calendars from the Luce Policy Institute, Pretty in Mink celebrates smart, conservative women role models ... with flair.

We took some of your favorite leaders of today’s conservative movement on a journey back in time, and made them up into glamorous movie stars of classic Hollywood. Back when the big screen was a little more glamorous, women were a little more feminine, the men a little more charming—and the world a little less politically correct.
Read about it at any number of places, if you enjoy hateful partisan piling-on. Fark, Gawker and Politico: Shenanigans, for instance. You can see all the images at Facebook. Buy it from the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute.

UPDATE: Speaking of hateful partisan piling-on...

Chubby Mikey

A man from the United States, who weighs 38 stone [532 lb] and calls himself Chubby Mikey, has posed for a naked calendar.

The 29-year-old has his own website where he appears in nude and semi-nude positions and he's even posed for these pics to become a calendar boy.

"I feel sexy and attractive so that's the way I act," said Mikey, from Memphis, in the US.
Read about it in the Telegraph: Buy it at ChubbyMikey.com -- maybe. The article says "I actually had to refund orders because my supplies were depleted", but I don't know if that means he's actually sold out.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Sixty 5 Roses

Becky Whitfield joined forces with friends and family to produce a naked calendar to raise vital funds for research into Cystic Fibrosis.

The 21-year-old vowed to find a cure for her little girl, Elle Morris, after she was diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease last year.
Buy it from Sixty5Roses.co.uk; read about it in the Evening Leader.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Stocksmoor Women's Institute

Ten members of Stocksmoor WI posed in their birthday suits for the charity calendar, which is now on sale.

Shots of the women discreetly posing nude behind a bar, pegging out the washing and in the bath appear in the calendar.

The calendar will raise money for two charities in memory of relatives of WI members.

The calendar is on sale at the customer service counter at Sainsbury’s Shore Head store and at the Asda supermarket on Bradford Road, Huddersfield.
The story is at the Huddlesfield Daily Examiner.

Rainham Steel

SCUNTHORPE steelmen are making a naked effort to raise money for charity in their own version of a Women's Institute famous 'Calendar Girls' appeal.

Yard manager Steve Hare organised 14 Rainham Steel workers for a semi-nude calendar in aid of Lindsey Lodge Hospice.

The calendar, which is expected to launch on Tuesday, was shot in the yard of the stockholder's premises.

It will be sold at shops across Scunthorpe, including the Scunthorpe United shop at Glanford Park, Asda and Lindsey Lodge stores.
The story was at This Is Scunthorpe. I'm not finding any way to order it by mail or web.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Perfectly Aged

When Laurie Ford of Gulf Breeze saw the Council on Aging of West Florida's call for senior citizens to appear in a benefit calendar, she immediately nominated her lovely stepmother-in-law, Jacque Spirson-Ford.

The only hitch? She didn't realize it was a "nearly nude" calendar.

"It was like, 'Whoops!'" Ford said, laughing. "I didn't know until Jacque called to tell me she'd been contacted about doing a nude calendar. Of course, she thought it was funny."

The 79-year-old Spirson-Ford, who was photographed lounging on a motorcycle with her dog, Oscar, is one of several area senior citizens who dared to bare it all (behind some carefully placed props) for the council's 2009 "Perfectly Aged" calendar. The popular calendar series, now in its third year, is the agency's largest fundraiser.
They're $20 plus postage: Get it from the Council on Aging of West Florida. Read about it at the Pensacola News-Journal.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Geoff Smith Foundation

The cheeky calendars have become a surprise hit with almost 300 of the 400 £10 calendars being sold in the past few weeks.

Money raised from the calendar will go towards the foundation which helps people with multiple sclerosis (MS).
To buy a calendar email g.smith881@btinternet.com. More details and pictures at the Hampshire Chronicle.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Lighter Life

SUPER slimmers from Coventry have dared to bare all for a new fund-raising calendar.

The 13 ladies decided to pose naked to raise money for Cancer Research UK - Breast Cancer after losing an astonishing 65 stone between them.

...All the participants were regulars at the Lighter Life weight loss group ran by Jenny McDonald, who also features in the calendar herself.

She said: "I asked some of the ladies back in April if it's something they would do and within three days I had enough volunteers - but they insisted if they did it that I did as well!"
£5 each: More information in the Coventry Observer. Order by e-mailing jenny.mcdonald@lighterlifecounsellor.com or calling 7655 3388.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

My Zombie Pin-up

This 13 month calendar is stuffed with more dead sexy girls than you can fit in a shallow grave. We dug up the idea of the vintage 1950's pin-up and hit it over the head with a shovel. Let yourself get infected by these bloody gore-gous women who are just dying to get under your skin.

This is a grassroots guerilla artist collaboration. Based in San Francisco, most of these photos were shot in Golden Gate Park; can you guess where?
$19.99 from MyZombiePinup.com: See also io9. There's no charity, and it features professional models, which puts the project technically outside my chosen specialty, but I can.. not... resist... ...braaainnnssss...

I Heart Brooklyn Girls

As with last year’s calendar, this project offers a new group of ladies from Brooklyn, but is fashioned after images made popular by pinup artists Elvgren and Vargas. The calendar showcases a dozen campy career girls in authentic vintage garments, lingerie and swimwear. From the Head of the Class to the Chemist Queenie, Women at Work pays homage to classic pinup while poking fun at traditional gender roles.

...For 2009, 10% goes to The Lesbian Herstory Archives, an organization that preserves records of lesbian history to make available to future generations.
It's $12 plus shipping. More information at IHeartBrooklynGirls.com. Found it at Fleshbot and The Principles of Pleasure. The 2008 edition is still available, and you can also see images from 2007.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Bollington's Calendar Boys

With just the tools of their trade to hide their modesty in the artistic black and white shots, the disrobed men are certainly workin’ it!

It may all seem a bit barmy – but this is actually a brazen business plan to raise much-needed cash for the 2009 Bollington Festival fund.
£8 from Bollington Festival. Read more at Macclesfield Express.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Luann's "Hot Firefighters Calendar"

OK, this one's not real. I just thought you might like to know about it. And anything that further mainstreams the concept is OK by me.

In the current storyline in Luann, the fire department has lost funding for their school fire safety program. TJ suggests they produce a "Hot Firefighters Calendar", and much to Brad's surprise, everyone is on board with the idea -- even Toni, the one firefighter everyone agrees belongs in such a calendar.

The arc started on September 15, which is about a week away from rolling off Comics.com's archive. This isn't the first "cheesecake/beefcake" calendar to hit the funny pages: Stone Soup's Wally and Phil appeared in one back in 2002.

UPDATE: The arc ended sweetly, at least for now, last Saturday (10/12) when the last photo was shot. The "calendar" may return when it's eventually "published".

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

A Wunderful Cookbook for Beach Bums

They were topless on the beach, topless in Acme’s eggs and bacon section and cooking in kitchens all over town wearing only a red hat and a smile.

These uninhibited, Cape May babes are at it again and they want you to see what they are doing. They call themselves the Beach Bums and they appearing on the cover and on each page of “A Wunderful Cookbook for Beach Bums,” a project to raise funds for local resident Robbie Wunder who became a paraplegic following a swimming pool accident.

...The cookbooks may be ordered by mail by sending $11 payable to Beach Bum Cookbook, P.O. Box 495,Cape May, N.J. 08204.

The books are also available at Love the Cook and The Whale’s Tale on the Washington Street Mall, The Nature Center of Cape May, Swains Hardware, By the Sea, next to the Beach Theatre, Sunset Beach Gift Shop, Cape May Winery on Townbank Road, Love the Cook, Stone Harbor and Dock Mike’s at the South Jersey Marina.
Yes, I realize it's not a calendar (although the group did "nude" calendars in 2005 and 2006 -- which I think I missed). It's close enough. Story from Cape May County Herald.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust

The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust have just issued a cheeky calendar with TV and Sports Stars.

These include Steve Leonard, Monty Hall, Sven Wombwell, 6 Rugby Team including The Bradford Bulls, and Bradford City Football Club.

You can find details of the calendar on YDMT.org.
I feel like I've arrived when I receive e-mail from the actual calendar photographer. (Thank you, Steve Rose!) I should also point out that this is but one of several calendars available from the YDMT, although the others "only" feature images of the Dales landscape.

Pictured is Bulls star Glen Morrison. See also Telegraph & Argus, The Northern Echo and Darlington and Stockton Times.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Bare in the Air


IT'S time for take-off as a brave babe gets naked to raise cash for North West Air Ambulance.

Busty Alexandra Meadowcroft, from Cheshire, went starkers for a new 'Bare in the Air' charity calendar.

She's one of thousands of people around the world who have posed in their birthday suit to raise cash for a good cause.
I really love to see a group that obviously had fun. Story and pictures found in the Sun. Buy it here.

UPDATE:
The saucy £5 Bare In The Air calendars have been banned from ambulance stations across the region after furious paramedics from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) claimed it damages their integrity and dignity at work.
Story at Lancashire Evening Post.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Women of Curling 2009


After taking a year off, the 2009 Women of Curling Calendar, featuring 13 female curlers from around the world, is now on sale.

Like past editions of the calendar, it features nude or near-nude curlers posing with props related to the sport.

..."I think this one is more risque, in my opinion," said a laughing Keshen [Christine Keshen, who won an Olympic bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Games]. "But my boyfriend (Mike DuBois) thinks it's great. He's the boy, he's the expert."

...It was intended to be a fundraiser for women's curling teams, and models received a share of the proceeds.
Available for $34.95 from thecurlingnews.com; Reported by the Sun and the Vancouver Sun.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Spring Time


“Spring Time”, the first calendar with artistic nude photos licenced in Vietnam, was introduced on September 25 by the HCM City Culture and Arts Publishing House.

The calendar uses seven nude photos by photographer Thai Phien: “No title”, “Spreading Wings”, “Line”, “Cool Stream”, “Shoot of Rock”, “Spring Melody” and “Angle”.
I haven't found a way to order it yet. Not being a charity calendar, it's really outside my mission, but how can I not mention it? Story (and all seven beautiful pictures) found at VietNamNet.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Naked Clown Calendar

Graduates of San Francisco's Clown Conservatory Class of 2008 have stripped down to their birthday suits to make a 2009 Naked Clown Calendar, a joyful and humourous work of art the clowns hope to sell in honor of a beloved mentor paralysed from the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) and others stricken with the disease.
$20 from http://www.nakedclowncalendar.com/. Report found at
the Sun and the Contra Costa Times.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Women of UW

The idea of a UW calendar came from a group of about five business students enrolled in "Entrepreneurship: Creating a Company." The two-quarter-long class requires students to form companies, write a business plan, pitch the idea to real investors and use investors' money to launch their business. [Daily of the University of Washington.]
The group's initial business plan: Produce both "Men of the UW" and "Women of UW" calendars with photographs of cute college students and sell them on campus.

But after conducting a little market research -- surveying business experts and potential buyers who would shell out $15 for a 2007-2008 calendar -- the team of budding entrepreneurs found little demand for the men's version.

"The men were much more into the idea. ... We probably got twice as many male models as female models," said Zachary Meissner, a UW junior and the financial officer of the group that created the calendar. "But at the same time, the males were also way more willing to purchase the product." [Seattle Post-Intelligencer.]
Well, duh.

The URL womenofuw.com doesn't go anywhere useful (not surprising, the class must be done by now), so I presume that win, lose, or draw, the calendar is no longer available. I hope it worked out well for everyone involved.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Scorchers Cricket Club

The Scorchers’ lads were swinging the willow, so to speak, at John Blanck Oval on Thursday afternoon, dropping their pants to raise some much-needed cash for the club, by way of a nude calendar.

Despite the media attention, the goading of team mates and the fact that both the photographer and make-up artist were female, the lads de-robed, cracked a nervous grin and jumped in front of the camera. [thedaily.com.au story, and a gallery]
The story said they'd set a date "later", but I can't confirm that.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Art of Sport

The girls who call themselves The Sisterhood have produced a charity calendar in which they pose as a variety of athletes.

But they didn't need any costumes.

The flirty little tennis dress, the impossibly clinging ski outfits and even the cricketer's pads were simply painted onto their naked bodies. [Daily Mail]

"The Sisterhood is an elite group of female athletes talented in many ways, toned to perfection, with killer looks and on a mission to keep boldly going where no other girl has gone before."

The Art of Sport calendar costs £7 £4.99 and proceeds will go to the CHASE Ben Hollioake Fund and The Babes in Arms Appeal at Northwick Park Hospital. The calendar is available from the Sun Calendar Shop.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Naked for a Cause

The McGrath Foundation, co-founded by Jane McGrath and her husband, former Australian cricketer Glenn, said money raised from the calendars would go toward placing breast care nurses in rural and regional Australia, and raising breast cancer awareness. [Daily Telegraph.]
This 19-month calendar (October 2007 until April 2009) is available online for $39.95(AUD).

See also Adelaide Now and Perth Now.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Calendario Romano

The calendar goes for $12.25 with some of the proceeds benefiting The Food Chain an HIV/AIDS charity out of London. The official site also features pictures from previous years going back to 2004. Note: The men pictured are not necessarily genuine priests. This is disclosed on the official site as well.

See also TMZ.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Nerdcore

In the tradition of the best-selling 2007 Nerdcore™ calendar, this 2008 edition reunites famed photographer Cherie Roberts and designer/artist Jason Adam, and features tasteful, giant photography of nude girls in heroic and villainous settings.
They're $25 each from TotallyNerdcore.com. (There's no charity involved that I know of, but I was just too tickled not to include them.)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Hampshire Hawks

If it's good enough for the W.I. it's certainly good enough for the Hawks.

Hampshire Cricket has launched its own version of the Naked Calendar in support of Prostate Cancer Research.

The calendar features most of the Hawk's first team players in a variety of striking poses with only some tactfully positioned cricket equipment hiding their modesty.
The 2008 calendar is still available online, for £5.00 (half the original £9.99).

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Naked Truth about 100% Kona Coffee

Eleven female Hawaiian farmers have posed nude demurely for a calendar to promote the pricey Kona coffee bean, project organizers say.

Project leader Mary Lou Moss said the nude calendar featuring Kona Coffee Farmers Association farmers, who are all more than 50 years old, is meant to support legislation being considered by the Hawai'i Legislature, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported Sunday. Moss said the measure would require all coffee labeled Kona to contain beans grown on the western side of the Big Island.

The legislation came about after Kona growers complained other coffee companies used the Kona name despite including as little as 10 percent of the beans in their blends.
From UPI / Moldova. Also reported by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the Honolulu Advertiser and any number of other sources, including the blog of the Hawai'i House of Representatives. Order the calendar for $12 from the Kona Coffee Growers Association.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Mothers of Serradilla del Arroyo

I am saddened to report one calendar's story with an unhappy ending. Serradilla del Arroyo is a village of 400 in northern Spain.
Seven middle-aged Spanish mothers who posed for a tongue-in-cheek nude calendar — a fundraiser for their children's tiny, rural school — are now saddled with debt and 5,000 unwanted copies.

Its elementary school has one classroom and one teacher who handles its seven pupils, spanning four grades, and ranging in age from 7 to 11. But it is so cramped, the village matrons came up with the idea of building a recreation center for their kids.

The women acknowledge being rank amateurs in publishing and advertising, and because of a miscue with a distributor they missed out on the Christmas shopping rush. Now, sales of the $8 calendar have dried up and they owe a printer nearly $16,000.
The full story is in the International Herald Tribune and the Sydney Morning Herald: Sample pictures (and an unkind summary of the situation) can be found at CamelTap.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Girls of Ryanair



Gadling | Ryanair Flight Attendants like you've never seen them before
Here's something to add to your Christmas wish list: The flight attendants of infamous low-cost European airline Ryanair have shed their usual blue uniforms in favour of something skimpier in a new promotional item for the airline -- they're posing in teeny tiny bikinis for a new calendar, which will be sold on Ryanair flights for £5.

...The proceeds from the sales of The Girls of Ryanair Calendar 2008 will be going to a good cause -- Angel Quest is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping special needs kids.
The official site says it's a sellout. A later Gadling entry reports that the Women's Institution of Spain calls the calendar "sexist". See also the Daily Mail and MSNBC.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Froncysyllte Welsh Male Voice Choir


Help the Aged | Hollywood-bound choir reveals all for Charity
The Froncysyllte Welsh Male Voice Choir has produced a calendar featuring artistic shots of themselves unclothed, to be sold in aid of Help the Aged.

The choir hit the headlines last year when their debut album, Voices of the Valley, became both the best-selling classical album of 2006 and the fastest-selling classical album ever.

The Fron Male Voice Choir Calendar is priced at £6.95 (RRP) and all proceeds will go to Help the Aged. We regret that copies of the calendar have now sold out.
More information, and a few more pictures, can be found in news reports from BBC, The Daily Mail and Monsters and Critics (Her Majesty reportedly tried to order one!), and too many more to count.

But I don't believe I've seen anyone contrive to protect their modesty behind a golf ball before. That, I must say, is new.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Cheeky Chappies Charity Calendar

Crawley Observer | Men strip naked for calender - picture
A SAUCY calendar has raised nearly £1,000 in just over a week for the hospital that's treated a terminally ill Furnace Green lad since birth.
Family and friends of Harry Shrubb put together the Cheeky Chappy's Charity Calendar to help other children with the same heart condition as the two-and-a-half year old.

And the calendar, which shows some of Crawley's finest male talent in their birthday suits, has already sold more than 400 copies since its launch on November 10.
See also the Evening Leader and the official site.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Ancaster Athletic Football Club

NORA Hardwick, a 102-year-old pensioner, poses topless and becomes one of the oldest women ever to appear in a nude calendar.

The former-councillor, from Lincolnshire, became Miss November to raise cash for her local football team, Ancaster Athletic.

Pub regular Nora - who covered her chest with a strategically-placed scarf - downed a small glass of whiskey before getting her kit off for the photograph.

She told us: "I'd never done anything like it before - and I doubt I will again.

"I just thought 'go for it' and I'm so glad I did!"

Story from the Sun Online, as found in the Courier Mail, Grantham Journal and The Footie (World Soccer News). And countless other places since she appeared with Jay Leno...

Monday, January 21, 2008

Scanning old charity calendars


Naked calendar
Originally uploaded by tobymerrittphotography
I get mail...



Over at the adult forum One Click Chicks (http:// www. oneclickchicks .com) there is a fair amount of interest in naked charity calendar pics....

Recently the question came up as to whether or not it is legal to scan old, out of date calendars, and whether anyone on the net is doing so. My reply was there was probably a limited number of these calendars sold in the first place, and also a limited market for such scans on the net. As for the legality - I don't know.

Can you shed any light on this? So many of these pics are unavailable, or only available in low resolution. Do you happen to know if old calendars can be scanned and if anyone is doing so?

Thanks again - I have linked to your website.



Hi. Great to hear from you.

I don't know of anyone scanning old charity calendars: I wish I did. I'd be delighted to see such a resource myself, for the same reason I started the site and blog. The images I use, I get from the same place I get most of my information: online newspaper stories.

If one simply has the desire to look at naked models, there is certainly no shortage of sources on the internet. These pictures are clearly different, special. What the models in these charity calendars have in common is an attitude that comes through in almost every photograph: Self-awareness, courage, commitment to their cause, self-depreciating humor, and a bit of a tweak to the nose to people too stuffy to appreciate the gesture.

It's what I find appealing about these images, regardless of where the models rate on any scale of conventional beauty. Whether hourglass or pear, young or old, man or woman, they're all unfailingly, irresistably charming.

Different groups produce calendars for different reasons, so I'd be reluctant to make any generalized guesses about what the response to a request for permission to scan would be.

Some, I'm sure--most, I tend to think--would be delighted for the attention, especially if the scans were distributed along with the appropriate information for donating to the cause the calendars were intended to benefit.

Some would flatly refuse. Some of the "models" were only reluctantly talked into participating, with assurances like "we're only printing a few hundred of them" and "only a few local people will see them" and "most of them will sit in a drawer unused". The idea of having these images available on the Web would scare the stuffing out of them.

And some continue to make calendars, and might insist on protecting their copyrights. Long Tom Grange, Vail Undraped, and Breast of Canada are among a dozen or so organizations who've marketed calendars in multiple years.

And just because the calendars are expired doesn't mean the group isn't still selling them. Salt Springs, near Seattle, continued to sell their calendar for several years until they finally sold out.

The copyright issues alone strike me as utterly nightmarish. Who owns the photo, the model, the photographer, or the publisher? Or some combination of the three? And just because it's last year's calendar doesn't mean it's public domain.

The internet being the kind of place it is, of course, if someone were to begin such an image collection, there is precious little anyone could do about it. Very few of these groups have the wherewithal to mount any kind of legal protest, even if they knew where to direct it. And if the collection isn't itself making money, I can't see that it would be doing anyone any harm.

But, as you say, the small numbers in which most of these calendars were printed would make finding and acquiring them very difficult. The main reason I started my site is that I couldn't afford to buy the calendars.

All of this is, of course, just my untrained non-legal opinion. I hope you find it useful.