March marks the 25th anniversary of World Book Day.
For parents there is the nightmare of having to come up with a last-minute costume, amusingly depicted by the BBC comedy Motherland and numerous internet memes. My favourite is the picture that went viral, of two confused-looking children in regular school uniform carrying a toaster and a hairdryer. The caption reads: ‘My children dressed as the Argos catalogue’.
As an English teacher, I have to admit that I enjoy the dressing up, story time and author events. Last year’s World Book Day took place during lockdown, but so many of my students joined online lessons dressed up as anything from the elderly members of The Thursday Murder Club to a T-Rex (Jurassic Park, obviously!).
When did you last get lost in a good book?
A YouGov poll in 2025 stated that 40% of UK adults have not read or listened to a single book …