The Grand National winning jockey Bob Champion is backing a nude charity calendar to support research at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

Former cancer patients have been photographed celebrating their return to health by posing beside strategically placed guitars and sombreros.

Mr Champion, 59, originally captured the imagination of the nation after winning the battle against testicular cancer and taking the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti.

He decided to endorse the 2009 calendar because proceeds are going to the research laboratory he opened 25 years ago at the hospital which saved his life.

Scientific teams at the Bob Champion Research Centre for Urological Cancer in Downs Road, Belmont, are now working to understand prostate stem cells.

This week a spokeswoman for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust told the Sutton Guardian: “All of the models that posed for these shots have been affected by male cancer in some way, either through a loved one, a friend or even having the disease themselves.

“Without their enthusiasm and support, this calendar would not have been possible.

She added: “Prostate cancer is one of the most lethal cancers for men, killing 11,000 every year.

“It is predicted that, in the future, prostate cancer will be the common form of cancer, affecting at least one in 10 men at some time in their lives.”

“The aims of the Bob Champion Research Centres are to improve methods of detection and treatment, to identify cancer genes, and ultimately to eradicate male cancers.”

For more information about the trust or for details of its future events go to bobchampion.org.uk.