Reeve to ring in NY new year

Actor Christopher Reeve will join New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in ringing in the New Year at the annual ball-drop in the city’s Times Square next week.

Reeve, 50, and his wife, Dana, were selected to lead the celebration because of their “combined strength and courage“, said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Business Improvement District.

Reeve has been an activist for spinal cord research since a 1995 horse-riding accident left him paralysed from the neck down.

Revellers in Times Square will receive bracelets with bells during the New Year’s Eve celebrations so they can accompany New York’s Riverside Ringers Bell Choir and Anita Ward who will perform her disco hit Ring My Bell.

A fireworks display will be included in this year’s celebration after they were cancelled last year because of the September 11 terror attacks.

Around half a million people are expected to bring in the New Year in Times Square.