Evening Standard readers have raised a massive £158,000 for African schoolchildren in our Christmas charity auction.

A flurry of furious bidding in the hours before the noon deadline today more than doubled the total in the final 24 hours.

Three lots even pipped the £10,000 barrier. Many of the lots on offer were once-in-a-lifetime experiences, only available to readers through the Evening Standard.

Successful bidders bagged some remarkable bargains - and helped change the lives of African schoolchildren in the Plan UK programme at the same time.

The top two lots were paid for by one mystery bidder. The biggest single bid was £11,778 - to spend the day at broking giant ICAP, sharing money tips with its boss Michael Spencer, the City's richest self-made man.

Amid the market turmoil of the past few months, it seems readers were keen to spend time in the company of those with proven financial know-how.

The second highest bid - £10,500 - was for lunch and a game of table tennis with a man with nerves of steel, Barclays chief executive John Varley.

The next experience for which people were willing to dig deep in their pockets was a private tour of the Terracotta Army exhibition with the director of the British Museum, Neil McGregor. That notched up an astonishing £10,000.01.

Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay provided the next two most covetable experiences. Twelve food enthusiasts will be attending a private cookery masterclass at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, with head chef Clare Smyth, followed by lunch. For the pleasure they are paying £9,600.

Another reader paid £7,100 for a Eurostar trip for two to Versailles to eat lunch at Gordon Ramsay Au Trianon with the chef.

An hour's free shopping at Topshop with its boss Sir Philip Green was highly sought after with the successful bidder paying £6,100. A day in the Evening Standard's newsroom, with the promise of a bylined article, went for £5,315 and dinner with the editor, Veronica Wadley, fetched £4,100.

All 103 lots were hotly contested, with several thousand readers taking part. Ms Wadley said: "This is an amazing total. It is a great tribute to the generosity-of our readers that so many were willing to bid such large sums. The money will go towards an excellent cause and will make a real difference to the lives of tens of thousands of children."

The auction money comes on top of £12,000 raised through the paper earlier this month. Anyone with queries about the auction or who would like more information about the charity should email auction@standard.co.uk.

THE TOP 10 BIDS

£11,778 A day at broker ICAP with boss Michael Spencer
£10,500 Lunch and table tennis with Barclays CEO John Varley
£10,000.01 Private viewing of the Terracotta Army exhibition at the British Museum
£9,600 Lunch and a Gordon Ramsay masterclass for 12
£7,100 Lunch at Gordon Ramsay Au Trianon at Versailles
£6,100 Free shopping at Topshop with Sir Philip Green
£5,315 A day in the Evening Standard newsroom
£5,251 Lunch with Dragons' Den's James Caan at Cipriani
£4,100 Dinner at the Wolseley with Evening Standard editor Veronica Wadley
£3,852 A week's work experience at ES magazine

FULL AUCTION DETAILS IN THURSDAY'S STANDARD

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