The Man who Changed the World to Host Russian Midsummer Fantasy at Hampton Court on Saturday 5 June

LONDON, June 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --

- With Photo

On June 5, Evgeny Lebedev will transform the grounds of his house in Hampton Court into a Russian church, with a bell tower and the roof of the temporary dining room based on that in St Basil's Cathedral.

Lebedev, President Mikhail Gorbachev and Geordie Greig, editor of the Evening Standard, will be hosting the fifth Russian Midsummer Fantasy in aid of the Raisa Gorbechev Foundation, which fights childhood cancer.

Tables have been bought for GBP15,000 and the great, the good and the glitterati will be in attendance. Last year saw JK Rowling, Yasmin and Simon Le Bon, Vanessa Redgrave, Sophie Dahl and Jamie Cullum, Emelia Fox, Natalia Vodianova, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sharlene Spitari, David Walliams, Rachel Stevens, Nick Rhodes, Anthony Gormley, Kimberly Stewart and Dougray Scott as guests of this exceptionally glamorous event.

The most coveted auction prize is dinner with the Man Who Changed the World. Last year private equity investor Cyrus Vandrevala bid GBP75,000 for it and joined President Gorbachev with his family in Moscow; the previous year it went to Hugh Grant, and before that the mobile phone tycoon John Caudwell.

"We are so delighted to have such generous donors who have bid for the chance of seeing President Gorbachev in private. This is a unique opportunity to see one of the great leaders of the 20th century who has chosen to dedicate his life to saving the lives of young people who suffer from cancer," commented Geordie Greig.

Another auction prize will be an original Francis Bacon lithograph, given by his estate.

The Gala Committee includes Hugh Grant, David Hockney, Madonna and Baroness Thatcher.

    Raisa Gorbachev Foundation Midsummer Gala - Saturday 5 June 2010
    Stud House, Hampton Court, London
    http://raisafund.org.uk/events.html
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SOURCE Raisa Gorbachev Foundation