Getty steps in to donate pounds 1m to Globe

Gordon Getty, the American philanthropist, has donated pounds 1m to the Globe Theatre project which earlier this week learned that its pounds 12.4m application for Lottery money had been deferred.

"It means it will tide us over while the Arts Council reconsiders our Lottery application. It is wonderful timing," a spokeswoman for the Globe said. "We are still hopeful as far as the Arts Council is concerned and we are having a meeting with them to discuss finance."

The Shakespeare Globe Centre in New York announced that Mr Getty, a composer and world renowned philanthropist, would fulfil the pledge of pounds 1m which he made at the ground breaking ceremony on the south bank of the Thames in 1987.

He challenged the Shakespeare Globe Centre USA and the Shakespeare Globe Trust, London, to raise pounds 9m jointly - which they reached last month.

More than 30 per cent of the money so far raised for the thatched, open- airauditorium, has been raised in America. The donation will ensure that building work on the one-acre site in Southwark, London, can carry on while the Arts Council reconsiders whether to give a grant.