Newcastle University

How do you think your early experience of reading might have influenced your attitude to reading today?

Well, I think I’ve just kept it up. There’s never an occasion when I don’t go from one book to the next. I think that’s stayed with me, the enjoyment of it stayed with me. The reading, which I think is extremely … You know, I think I said, extremely important. I can never understand when people say they don’t read – novels, books. It’s stayed with me, and I think I was influenced by that. Funnily enough, I was just talking to my mother the other week about going to the library on a Saturday morning. Hat has definitely stayed with me, the enjoyment has stayed with me. I mean, there’s ties you pick up a book and think, Oh, it’s not what I thought it would be. But you know, that hasn’t left me; jus the idea of having books, the feel of books, has definitely been influenced by that. I think it just makes you .. I don’t know, it feels like knowledge, almost, because you know … And they say knowledge is power. And of course, it’s amazing how when you read, even now, like the papers and stuff, and it just feels like knowledge. I just like to know what’s going on, and I like to sot of ... It’s research, and it helped me. Because obviously, I did an English degree; I didn’t stay on to do my A levels; I left when I was sixteen and I got a job. I worked at Northumbria University and then I got a chance go do an English degree. And then, you know, you’ve got to do all the reading for that, and the interpretation. I think it helps you articulate. Spelling – I’m very good at spelling. Memory. I just think it’s got a huge amount of … you know, benefits. People don’t realise, I think.