BARKER DONATES $1 MILLION TO FORMER COLLEGE

Big-hearted U.S. TV host BOB BARKER has donated $1 million (GBP500,000) to his former college in a bid to end animal cruelty.

The former The Price Is Right presenter - who attended the school in 1947 - has given the generous gift to Drury University, Missouri to establish an undergraduate animal ethics program.

He says, ""It's incredible that I ever was able to go back to Springfield and give them a million dollars, because when I was there, I didn't have 15 cents,"

"What I'm hoping is that this will become a model for other undergraduate schools."

And the star is confident his generosity will help young people make an ethical stand against animal cruelty.

He adds, "If young people are introduced to the terrible exploitation and mistreatment of animals in society, it will help influence them in anything they do."

It's not the first ambitious animal rights project for Barker - he has funded schemes to establish animal rights curricula at law schools throughout the U.S. over the past decade.