‘The idea was to put smiles on faces – and it snowballed’: the people who saved 2020

From the Spider-Men who rescued the children of Stockport, to the women who won the Nobel prize, here are seven people who brightened the darkest days

When Andrew Baldock decided to don a Spider-Man suit for his daily jog in March, to cheer up locked-down children on his estate, he never expected such a huge response. The original idea was just to put some smiles on faces and then it snowballed," says Baldock, 45, who lives in Stockport, Greater Manchester. Everyone loved it."