Beckham steps in for Henry

Thierry Henry today announced a last minute Barcelona fixture change has meant David Beckham will now move from guest to star host of the London charity event he has been planning for the last 12 months. Last week the Barcelona star announced the all star line up for his Liv charity dinner for Cystic Fibrosis, due to take place at the Dorchester hotel this Thursday night. The line up includes live performances from Elton John, who is confirmed to play an exclusive set at the dinner. However, 24 hours later, the Spanish Football Federation changed Barcelona’s ¼ final Copa del Rey fixture at the last minute and it now clashes with the London dinner. Commenting on the news, Thierry said, “As soon as I found out about the last minute change I was devastated but the event had to go on. The first person I called was David Beckham who agreed straight away and said he would do his best to fill my shoes. That just sums up the kind of person he is and I will be forever grateful to him for it.”The event will go ahead as planned with all previously confirmed guests attending. Thierry Henry will still make an appearance via a specially set up live video link. Davina McCall will be hosting the event, where tables have been going for anything up to £30,000. Amongst the confirmed celebrity guests are Naomi Campbell, Natalie Imbruglia, Jimmy Carr, Olivia Newton John, and Sharleen Spiteri, who will be kept amused by Little Britain stars, David Walliams & Matt Lucas, as they perform a number of exclusive sketches. Jimmy Carr will also perform a routine. Arsène Wenger and his Arsenal players that bought places include William Gallas, Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy, and Emmanuel Adebayor, while Chelsea stars Shaun Wright-Philips, and John Terry will be present. Ian Wright, Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch will be joined by Danielle Lloyd and Abi Clancy, respectively.