Nick Hornby Heads List Of Authors Set For Big 2010

Ten books that are set to become must-read favourites are today announced as the first titles in a new series of The TV Book Club, due to return to TV screens in January.

Funded by Specsavers, the ten part series screens weekly on More4, with repeats on Channel 4. The new panel of presenters critiquing each week’s chosen title consists of TV personalities Jo Brand, Gok Wan, Laila Rouass, Dave Spikey and Nathaniel Parker.

Launching with Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger on Sunday 17th January 2010, the rest of the selected titles in transmission order are: Blacklands by Belinda Bauer, Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant, Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, The Rapture by Liz Jensen, Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne, The Way Home by George Pelecanos, Wedlock by Wendy Moore, and The Silver Linings Play Book by Matthew Quick.

The authors, a combination of established writers and emerging talents, include Nick Hornby, who features with his latest work Juliet, Naked. Nick is no stranger to literary success, having won global recognition for his award-winning books Fever Pitch and About a Boy, which along with High Fidelity have all been made into high-grossing movies. Meanwhile, The Way Home author, George Pelecanos is a TV and film producer and has written and produced extensively for the cult hit crime-fighting drama, The Wire. Sarah Waters, who has written The Little Stranger, has previously enjoyed success with her books Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith, winning the South Bank Award for Literature and being named as Author of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards.

Each week the revived TV Book Club will also feature a major celebrity interview and an author who has been previously selected discussing how the programme impacted on their success. Previous writers that have benefited from featuring on the TV Book Club include Kate Mosse, Victoria Hislop and Cecilia Aherne.

Testament to its undeniable success, previous Book Club entries (from Richard & Judy’s daytime show) have been made into high-grossing movies. Alice Sebold’s best-seller The Lovely Bones is about to go on nationwide cinematic release on 29 January 2010 starring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon and directed by the Oscar® winning director of The Lord of The Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson, while Cecilia Aherne’s PS I Love You, was released as a motion picture in 2007 starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler.

Amanda Ross is the creator and producer of the original and revived TV Book Club and as Managing Director of Cactus TV, which produces the series, has been instrumental in the overwhelming impact it had in its previous guise on Richard & Judy’s daytime show.

Amanda heads up a team of four who trawl through almost 800submissions from Britain’s publishing houses, before whittling them down to an enthralling and entertaining top ten reads. Amanda’s influence in publishing has been recognised both by The Observer Review, where she was named the Most Powerful Person in Publishing 2006 and the Evening Standard, which has named her one of the top 50 Most Influential Londoners.

On this year’s shortlist, Amanda Ross says: “With the new series backed by Specsavers and the public faith in our Book Clubs, we are only too aware of the overwhelming responsibility when choosing the shortlist. But I think this year our recommendations will encourage more people than ever to read along.”

Specsavers marketing director, Richard Holmes says: “Sponsorship of the Crime Thriller Awards in October opened a new chapter for us and so it seemed only natural to continue our relationship with Cactus TV and fund The TV Book Club. The partnership highlights our passion for reading and there’s no doubt that this ten part series with its new format will be even more successful. I believe this great selection of titles will appeal to a wide variety of audiences”.

For more information please contact Taylor Herring PR on 0208 206 5151.

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About Specsavers: Specsavers was founded by Doug and Dame Mary Perkins in 1984 and is now the largest privately owned opticians in the world. The couple still run the company, along with their three children. Their eldest son John is joint managing director. Specsavers has more than 1,340 stores throughout the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain and Australia. The group plans to continue its successful international expansion by opening stores in New Zealand. Annual turnover for the Specsavers Group is forecast to reach a record £1.4 billion in 2009. Specsavers was voted Britain’s most trusted brand of opticians for the eighth year running by Reader’s Digest in 2009.

About Cactus TV – Cactus TV is a member of the ALL3MEDIA group and run by husband and wife team Simon and Amanda Ross. Productions include Saturday Kitchen for BBC1, Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain for BBC2, Rachel Allen, Galaxy British Book Awards and 8 years of the Richard & Judy show live from Cactus studios.

Give your little princesses some sparkle this Christmas with the new Darcey Bussell range which is available now from www.darceybusselldirect.com

International ballerina Darcey Bussell is giving kids the opportunity to step into her shoes by wearing her exclusive new children’s clothing range. The collection includes a fantastic selection of tutus, dancewear, accessories and shoes.

“I’ve enjoyed working on the collection… I’m thrilled to put my name to this fabulous range of dancewear!” Darcey Bussell, CBE

Darcey Bussell’s collection is available exclusively to the website: www.darceybusselldirect.com

International Dance Supplies (IDS) has exclusive rights to Darcey Bussell Direct and is the sole supplier of the Darcey Bussell Range. IDS is the UK’s largest wholesale dancewear supplier servicing over 12,000 dance teachers and dance shops with quality dancewear, dance shoes, tights, leotards and costumes as well as accessories and stage props.

For more information on the collection, interviews with Darcey and images please contact Taylor Herring PR 0208 206 5151.

CHANNEL 4 announces today the return of the acclaimed TV Book Club, funded by Specsavers, to be aired on More4, with repeats on Channel 4 the following lunchtime, in January 2010.

Produced by Cactus TV, creators of the original Book Club on Richard and Judy, The TV Book Club will review the most compelling reads for 2010, presented by stars Jo Brand, Gok Wan, Laila Rouass, Dave Spikey and Nathaniel Parker.

Taylor Herring PR have been appointed to promote the new series.

The funding of the new look TV Book Club follows the recent success of Specsavers headline sponsorship of the Crime Thriller Awards 2009, with Cactus and the Crime Writer’s Association. Aside from the TV Book Club, an eight part Summer Read, which champions the best in holiday reads, will follow later in the year.

The TV Book Club will offer viewers the chance to celebrate and immerse themselves in Britain’s best writing, discussed by a new panel of faces hand selected from all corners of TV, , comedy and arts. In a similar style to ordinary book clubs up and down the country, the presenters will be rating and reviewing one title each week, offering their personal insight and opinions.

The final ten titles for The TV Book Club will be revealed at the end of December. Each week the revived TV Book Club will also feature a major celebrity interview and an author who has been selected for a previous Book Club series, discussing how the programme changed their lives, offering a unique glimpse into how it feels to be a chart topping author. Previous authors that have benefited from featuring on the Book Club, include Kate Mosse, Victoria Hislop and Cecilia Aherne.

Creator and producer of the original and revived Book Club, Amanda Ross says: ‘We’re thrilled to be bringing the Book Club back to TV screens. Thanks to Specsavers we have a long term home on More4. We would also like to thank publishers, libraries and retailers, who have all provided invaluable support, which is set to continue to create a whole new wave of star authors. The Book Club is without a doubt the TV series I am most proud of and I’m looking forward to the start of its new chapter!’

Hamish Mykura, Head of Documentaries and More4 said ‘I’m delighted to bring the TV Book Club to More4 where it will form an exciting part of the resurgence of arts programming on the Channel.’

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For further information from Cactus TV or Channel 4, please contact Justin Jeffreys on tel: 020 8206 5151 or email: justin.jeffreys@taylorherring.com

Notes To Editors

Jo Brand
Jo is most famously a stand-up comedian, but has also authored three novels, Sorting out Billy, It’s Different for Girls and The More You Ignore Me. Her autobiography, Look Back in Hunger became an immediate best-seller. A pioneer of the alternative comedy scene, her TV work includes Jo Brand’s Hot Potatoes, Through the Cakehole and BBC 3 comedy Getting On, which has just been commissioned for a second series.

Dave Spikey
Dave is a multi-award winning comedian, writer and actor. He has worked with long term comedy partner Peter Kay since 1996, and the pair wrote and starred in cult TV show Phoenix Nights. Dave has been touring since 2003, and wrote his first book, He Took My Kidney Then Broke My Heart! this year, based on local news stories he found while on tour.

Nathaniel Parker
Nathaniel graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and first joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986. His television career began in 1989, and he has since appeared in Joanna Trollope’s A Village Affair, Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, and psychological thriller Trust, as well as Oscar nominated movie The Bodyguard. Nathaniel also stars in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and is currently filming the series Land Girls.

Gok Wan
Gok has been a familiar TV face for five years, in that time hosting four television series and writing two books. He presents two hugely popular TV series, How to Look Good Naked, and Gok’s Fashion Fix, for Channel 4, and alongside the programme he wrote How to Look Good Naked: Shop for your Shape and Look Amazing! He also frequently contributes to Tatler and Marie Claire.

About Specsavers
Specsavers was founded by Doug and Dame Mary Perkins in 1984 and is now the largest privately owned opticians in the world. The couple still run the company, along with their three children. Their eldest son John is joint managing director. Specsavers has more than 1,340 stores throughout the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain and Australia. The group plans to continue its successful international expansion by opening stores in New Zealand. Annual turnover for the Specsavers Group is forecast to reach a record £1.4 billion in 2009. Specsavers was voted Britain’s most trusted brand of opticians for the eighth year running by Reader’s Digest in 2009.

About Cactus TV
Cactus TV is a member of the ALL3MEDIA group and run by husband and wife team Simon and Amanda Ross. Productions include Saturday Kitchen for BBC1, Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain for BBC2, Rachel Allen, Galaxy British Book Awards and 8 years of the Richard & Judy show live from Cactus studios.

Arts Alliance Media will stream the 50th anniversary of the classic ballet, Ondine, live from Covent Garden to cinemas across the UK on 3 June followed by the live broadcast of La Traviata on 30 June.

The Royal Ballet’s principle dancer Ed Watson and American Soprano Renée Fleming are available for interview.

Contact: Hayley.dodd@taylorherring.com

Off By Heart, Friday 22 May 2009 at 9pm on BBC Two

The lost art of poetry recitation has taken centre stage in primary schools across the country thanks to a BBC Two film which documents Britain’s first national competition of its kind.

More than 1,500 primary schools signed up to take part in the Off By Heart poetry competition, selecting one 7-11 year old pupil to represent them. Children from Belfast to Brighton then battled it out in 57 heats, choosing one poem from a list of 15 to perform in front of a panel of well-known judges including librarians, teachers, actors and poets. The most popular choices were The Pig by Roald Dahl, Matilda by Hilaire Belloc and Alligator by Grace Nichols.

Twelve finalists were eventually selected and include two children from working farms, one from North Wales who attends a school where all the lessons are in Welsh, and two children with Iranian parents. Children from Aberdeen to Bushmills in Northern Ireland to Barrow in Furness have earned themselves a place at the Off By Heart final.

Each of their stories have been captured on camera by the award winning director Antonia Bird for a 90 minute film to be shown on BBC Two, which documents every stage of the competition. The film aims to enhance poetry education in schools, which has in the past been criticised by OFSTED.

The overwhelming response from children shows that there is an appetite for poetry, especially when it is taught through performance. At Earlham Primary School in Newham, East London, where 92% of the children are from ethnic minorities, the Off By Heart judging panel was treated to a rip roaring beat box version of Lewis Carroll’s the Owl and the Pussycat. The performance earned the ‘bad boys’ a standing ovation from the whole school.

The finalists attended a series of workshops to help them prepare for the final stage of the competition. Their memories were honed by Edward Cooke, who has pioneered an active learning technique that had the children rushing around the room reciting different lines in different places – resulting in word perfect recitals after just forty minutes. They were inspired by Benjamin Zephaniah who showed the finalists that learning poetry can be a conduit to writing it, and after one hour trading poems with Zephaniah they were all writing verses of their own.

The children’s journey culminated a nail-biting final which was held at The Sheldonian Theatre as part of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on Sunday 5 April 2009 and compered by Jeremy Paxman. Nerves had to be firmly in check as the finalists stepped onto stage to give the performance of their life in front of a sell out audience of 600 people.

The finalists were awarded marks for their performance and interpretation of two separate poems; Sea Fever by the former Poet Laureate John Masefield and another from a list of 30. The competition was made all the harder by the high profile judging panel which consisted of poet Benjamin Zephaniah, Dawn Postans, the head examiner at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and was headed by Northern Lights author Philip Pullman.

Philip Pullman says: “The performances have been extraordinary and it never ceases to amaze me when you see children as young as seven, who are initially shy and timid, transformed on stage through their love of poetry.”

Jeremy Paxman says: “Learn a poem in childhood and you’ve a friend for life.”

Daisy Goodwin says: “Off By Heart is an attempt to revive the tradition of parlour poetry – to make poetry a public delight rather than a purely private pleasure. Through making this film we have discovered an untapped hunger for poetry amongst children in the UK, and I am pleased that all of the children that have been involved in this project have come away triumphant, for to learn a poem is to own it forever.”

As for the winner, they are now the proud recipient of the first ever Off By Heart trophy, while their school has also been awarded book tokens worth £500. Each of the finalists received book tokens worth £100 for their school.

The story of the competition and many of the entrants, including the winner, will be documented in the 90 minute film by independent production company Silver River and will be shown on BBC Two on 22 May 2009 at 9pm.

It is now hoped that Off By Heart will not only become an annual event for primary schools but that poetry recitation will once again become a firm feature on the primary school curriculum.

For more information about Off By Heart contact Nicola Dann at Taylor Herring Public Relations on 020 8206 5151 or e-mail nicola.dann@taylorherring.com

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Notes To Editors

Off By Heart, the 90 minute film produced by independent production company Silver River will be shown on BBC Two on 22 May 2009 at 9pm.

BBC Poetry Season

This May the BBC celebrates the diverse, compelling and inspiring world of poetry with a landmark season of content across television, radio and online.

BBC Two highlights include a one-off special from Griff Rhys Jones on Why Poetry Matters (1×60), while some of the nation’s best loved celebrities explore British poetry from a very personal point of view in Lifelines (4×60); and a nationwide poetry recitation competition for primary school children culminates in a grand final compered by Jeremy Paxman in Off by Heart (1×90).

On BBC Four Ian Hislop welcomes in the new Poet Laureate (working title) (1×60) and Owen Sheers presents A Poet’s Guide to Britain (6×30) exploring six great works of poetry about the British landscape.

CBeebies also brings works from well-known contemporary poets vividly to life through animation in Poetry Pie.

BBC Radio 4 is dedicated to broadcasting poetry programmes every week of the year. The channels highlights for the Poetry Season include an analysis of Rainer Maria Rilke and a new Poetry Slam. On Radio 3, Poems for Today, a series of more than 40 poems broadcast daily, will celebrate the breadth of contemporary poetry in the UK today.

BBC Online will be a key destination for a wealth of content, from great poets past and present, poems to suit your mood, live spoken word events and a vote for the ‘Nations Favourite Poet’ (Winner announced in October). bbc.co.uk/poetryseason

LONDON: Friday 8th May 2009, Richard & Judy and UKTV have mutually decided to call time on their chat show, as the husband and wife team celebrate a TV partnership spanning 21 years.

One year after signing with the brand new TV channel, Richard & Judy will present the final edition of the show on 3rd July 2009, at the end of its current series.

Richard & Judy had the opportunity to continue with the show until December, however a break clause in the contract allowed them, the broadcaster and the production company to cease production in the summer.

Ratings had not been in line with expectations and new audience research has prompted Watch to re-focus its direction towards family skewed entertainment and away from topical discussion based output.

Since its launch in October last year, success with non-topical shows such as Torchwood, Wipeout USA, Doctor Who and blockbuster films has made Watch bigger in Pay TV than Film4, Virgin 1, Sky News, Discovery and Comedy Central.

Since switching to UKTV, Richard & Judy have welcomed a host of high profile guests onto their sofa, including Hollywood stars Samuel L Jackson, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron and Mickey Rourke. In addition to hosting a regular daily show at 6pm every weekday, they also fronted the Galaxy British Book Awards.

On their time at Watch, Richard & Judy reflected; “Some you win, some you lose. It’s a shame we couldn’t get this one to fly because both we and our brilliant young production team were genuinely proud of the show and the guests it attracted. But it became obvious that it wasn’t the right fit with a brand new pay-for-view digital channel. Many of our former viewers have told us they simply couldn’t find us there. When we started we said we wanted to get ahead of the curve, as British television inevitably goes digital. Looks like we were a bit too far ahead of the curve! Perhaps a bridge too far too soon, despite UKTV’s strong support. But TV is all about taking risks and that means sometimes you fail. It was a really worthwhile experiment and we don’t regret it at all. Now we’re both going on to other projects, together and separately.”

Matthew Littleford, Controller at UKTV said,” I’d like to personally thank Richard and Judy for all their hard work, professionalism and that indefinable R&J magic that they consistently brought to UKTV. We’ve been incredibly lucky enough to have the King and Queen of British telly on UKTV and together with Amanda and Simon Ross at Cactus TV, they created a show I remain incredibly proud of. The calibre of the guests that have sat on the sofa has been as strong as ever and it is testament to the professionalism of the entire team at Cactus TV that the quality of the show has never waned. We wish them the best of luck in the future, and look forward to giving them a fitting send off.”

One of the most successful brand extensions of the Richard & Judy partnership has been the phenomenally popular Book Club, which has boosted book sales and propelled unknown authors to commercial and critical acclaim, and led to Cactus MD Amanda Ross being consistently named the most influential person in publishing in book page polls. In its most recent series, the initiative shifted almost 1 million copies, and amongst others, elevated author Kate Atkinson to number one with her book, When Will There Be Good News?. The current run achieved No.1 slots for four out of the ten books featured.

Cactus TV hopes that the Book Club will continue beyond UKTV, and are currently in discussions with media partners about its future.

Richard & Judy will continue to present the show as planned into the summer, hosting a new series of the Summer Read from Wednesday 15th May.

Cactus TV, who have produced Richard & Judy’s shows since they left ITV in 2001, continue to produce a range of shows, including Saturday Kitchen for BBC One, Hairy Bikers for BBC Two, Rachel Allen: Bake and the popular ITV Crime Thriller season.

For further information, please contact Justin Jeffreys at Taylor Herring PR on Justin.jeffreys@taylorherring.com

Notes To Editors

Richard Madeley began his career as a local journalist in Essex. At 19, he joined BBC Cumbria as a news producer and presenter before joining Border Television as a reporter/presenter in 1978. In 1980 Richard moved to Yorkshire Television where he reported and presented on regional Yorkshire Television programmes before moving on to Granada TV in 1982.

Judy Finnigan began her career as a TV researcher for Granada TV in 1971 after graduating from Bristol University with English and Drama BA Hons. Following a year’s working holiday in America, Judy returned to the television industry in 1974 to take her first on-screen job as Anglia Television’s first female reporter. She rejoined Granada in 1980 and worked on a range of live programmes including Granada Reports, which she co-presented with Richard.

In October 1988, Richard and Judy recorded their first episode of This Morning from the Albert Dock in Liverpool. They went on to present the programme for 13 years and established themselves as Britain’s favourite TV couple. Whilst on ITV, their much-loved presenting helped the programme scoop the coveted award for Most Popular Daytime Programme at the National Television Awards in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Other collaborative successes for the couple include Get A Life, Tonight and the British Soap Awards. Individually, Judy presented the Granada TV Coronation Street Specials, two series of the Judy Finnigan Debate and the primetime consumer show We Can Work it Out, whilst Richard presented the adult series of Connections, Runway and the extremely popular Eye of the Storm.

In 2001, Richard and Judy left ITV to present Richard & Judy for Channel 4, weeknights 5pm-6pm. The show combined news-reactive items, light informal features and celebrity interviews. In January 2006 Richard and Judy agreed to further extend their contract with Channel 4 until the end of 2008, and to share their teatime slot with Paul O’Grady, each presenting their magazine shows for half of the year. Richard and Judy are also responsible for a revolution in the nation’s reading habits, following the phenomenal success of their literary programme strands, particularly Book Club and Summer Read which both launched in 2004. To date Book Club has sold over 10 million books and generated over £60 million in book sales. Its featured titles are known to increase sales by as much as 3,000 per cent overnight. Book Club has turned at least eight authors into multi-millionaires.

In autumn 2006, Richard and Judy made a cameo appearance in Extras with Ricky Gervais on BBC2, and in early 2007, Richard presented Fortune: Million Pound Giveaway on ITV. After seven successful years at Channel Four, Richard and Judy are now hosting a topical prime-time chat show on the brand new digital channel, Watch, every weekday at 6pm.

Richard and Judy have been married to each other for over 20 years, and live in North London. They have a son, Jack, and a daughter, Chloe, who co-presented Big Brother’s Big Mouth for a week in August 2007; Judy also has twin sons from her first marriage.

Richard Madeley has recently written a book, Fathers and Sons, which charts the extraordinary tale of Richard’s family history. Spanning four generations, Father and Sons is a deeply personal insight into a story of betrayal and forgiveness, and was officially released through Simon & Schuster.

Screenwriter Julian Fellowes Leads List of Authors On Course For Summer Success

LONDON: 1st May 2009: The eight books hailed as this Summer’s most sought after holiday reads are announced today, as Richard & Judy unveil the short list for their popular Summer Read. Returning for its sixth series, the hotly anticipated strand showcases an array of both established and up-and-coming authors, and an enticing selection of stories.

This year’s eight fiction choices will be revealed by Richard & Judy on their teatime show today, just under a fortnight ahead of the first book review on Wednesday 13th May.

A TV actor and screen writer, a former Oprah Winfrey Book Club author, an award winning poet and an American sports columnist are all inducted into the segment, a spin off to the acclaimed Book Club series. Julian Fellowes, who starred in Monarch of the Glen and wrote the screenplays for movies Gosford Park and Vanity Fair, gets a coveted recommendation for Past Imperfect. Meanwhile, Sue Miller, who features on the list with The Senator’s Wife, is no stranger to TV Book Clubs after being picked for Oprah’s Book Club back in 2000. Sports commentator Dave Boling, who writes a regular column for Tacoma News-Tribune, swaps sports opinion for storytelling, with his book Guernica already on sale in eleven countries internationally.

The Summer Read selection in its entirety is as follows: Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes, Guernica by Dave Boling, Palace Council by Stephen L Carter, Mr Toppit by Charles Elton, The Great Lover by Jill Dawson, Mystery Man by Bateman, The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller, and The Piano Teacher by Janice Y K Lee.

Each week, the couple will rate and review one chosen title, joined in their studio by two special celebrity guest critics. Joanna Lumley and Dominic West are confirmed to discuss Past Imperfect, following in the footsteps of previous reviewers who include Michael Palin, Trevor McDonald and Piers Morgan.

Richard & Judy’s Summer Read has had a prolific effect on the careers of a number of its alumni, including Linwood Barclay, who earnt a place on the list in 2008 with No Time For Goodbye which went on to be the best selling book of the whole year. Linwood recently hit number one in the literary charts with his second novel Too Close To Home. Meanwhile, 2007 entrant Kim Edwards, who wrote The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, shot to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list after her Richard & Judy recommendation. One of the original Summer Read intake, Cecilia Aherne, even saw her publishing hit PS, I Love You reinvented into a major motion picture, released to cinematic audiences in 2007. The 2006 Summer Read Winner Victoria Hislop is currently at number 1 in the charts with her second novel.

At the helm of the selection process for all of Richard & Judy’s celebrated literary formats is Amanda Ross, executive producer of the daytime series. Having created both Book Club and Summer Read in 2004, Amanda has since pioneered a Children’s Book Club, launched the Christmas Book Special and even taken a child literacy petition to Gordon Brown at Downing Street. Her contribution to televised literature is unrivalled, with her production company Cactus TV, airing the Galaxy British Book Awards. Her contribution to the publishing market was acknowledged when she was first declared Most Powerful Person in Publishing three years ago. Amanda heads up a team of four advisors who whittle down scores of publishing house submissions, before settling on the eight books deemed worthy of the Richard & Judy seal of approval.

With the compilation of the 2009 short list complete, Amanda Ross reflected “Each year as the standard of books is so high, I worry that we can maintain our success rate. My husband and business partner Simon Ross is my harshest critic, but he thinks this year’s bunch are the best yet, and couldn’t put them down when we took them on our Easter break.”

Viewers can get full details of how to join the Summer Read and getting special extra back up material by calling 0870 191 9955 or logging on to the Richard & Judy website www.justwatch.co.uk

Sunday 5th April marks the most anticipated event in the publishing diary, as highlights from The 20th Annual Galaxy British Book Awards (more affectionately known as “The Nibbies”) screen exclusively on Watch, the home of the ceremony’s hosts Richard & Judy.

In the glitziest and most glamorous affair in publishing, the gala awards will see gongs handed out to a host of showbiz talents. Amongst last year’s victors were Hollywood sensation Ewan McGregor and his motorcycling counterpart Charley Boorman, and comedy heavyweight Russell Brand, and Harry Potter creator JK Rowling. The star studded event, held at Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, marks the culmination of Richard & Judy’s phenomenal Book Club 2009 strand.

One of ten hugely popular titles, all of which have already witnessed significant sales upheavals, will scoop the hotly contested Best Read award. The Galaxy British Book Awards is the only awards of its kind where the public have influence; Voters can opt for their favourite read in all eight categories by visiting the Awards website: www.galaxybritishbookawards.com.

For further information, please contact Justin Jeffreys on Justin.jeffreys@taylorherring.com

Three quarters of Britain’s parents are too busy to read bedtime stories to their children, according to a study.

Worryingly, it also emerged only three per cent of fathers now find the time to read to the kids compared to 89 per cent of mothers.

The majority (87%) blame work commitments, but over a third (34%) said they are just too tired to read to their youngsters.

The poll of 2,000 parents was commissioned by CITV to mark the launch of the children’s show Bookaboo, which encourages parents and children to read together. It found most parents believed bedtime was the best time to read to a child – just 5% read to their youngsters during the day.

Lucy Goodman, creator of Bookaboo, said: “It’s important development wise that young boys are able to share a book with dads, granddads or male carers and it can be fun and rewarding too. Our research is showing that dads are just not finding time to do this.”

Comedian Al Murray, Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden and veteran rock star Meat Loaf are amongst a host of stars will join a drum-playing puppy in a the new CiTV series which helps children and adults to enjoy reading.

The 13-part series starts on March 2  and will be shown at 12:15, 15:20 and 17:50

Press contact: Louisa Bradshaw 0208 206 5151

Overview…

As part of our ongoing work for Bebo we worked-up a research story that would maximise Bebo’s media presence, underlining the social media network as the voice of young Britain.

Execution…

Taylor Herring suggested that Bebo unearthed the latest slang words used by teenagers in 2009 which could be included in an edition of a national dictionary. To add credibility to the campaign Taylor Herring approached the established UK publisher Harper Collins. They agreed to come on board and potentially use the words Bebo sourced in the 2009 Collins English Dictionary.

This provided two opportunities for press coverage; the debate around which words should be included (February 2009) and also an announcement of final words published (scheduled for Summer 2009). In order to uncover the new slang vernacular, we organised a focus group with a panel of teenagers who helped shortlist the most widely used words in the UK today. This shortlist of 24 words was then divided into six categories; money-orientated, girls and boys, put-downs, street language, cool and friends which were voted on by the Bebo community.

More than 15-thousand votes were cast and the most popular words were forwarded to Collins for potential inclusion in the English dictionary. The story was then sold in to all key national press, education, media and arts correspondents as well as a wide range of online targets. All of the generated coverage carried a double credit for Bebo and Collins.

Results…

The story proved hugely popular across national press with fully credited pieces running in The Sun, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Daily Star and The London Paper. The teen slang words announcement also continued to generate interest long after it was released to the media.  

The story also proved a massive hit online with fully credited pieces featuring on the front page of Media Guardian, The Sun Online, Mail Online, Telegraph.co.uk, Metro.co.uk, Express.co.uk, Daily Mail online The Scotsman, Channel 4 News, MSN News, Yahoo News and Brand Republic amongst others. As the story ran with two news agencies including The Press Association, it also generated a lot of regional coverage both in print and online. This included The Liverpool Daily Post, Wrexham Chronicle, Coventry Telegraph, Blackpool Gazette, Birmingham Post, Yorkshire Evening Post, Halifax Courier and Hastings Observer.

Bebo is an international brand – and media from as far afield as Australia and India also picked up on the story and online pieces also featured on the sites of The Irish Examiner, The Times of India, Hindu.com, Indopia and The Hindu.

Our campaign reached more than 84 million people and is still being quoted and spoken about to this day.