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Celebrities back reading marathon in Trafalgar Square | |
(about 17 hours later) | |
Actors Rupert Everett, Hugh Grant and David Harewood were among the celebrities who took part in a reading marathon in Trafalgar Square. | |
Some 30 live readings took place at the Get Reading Festival, with messages of support from Princess Beatrice and Stephen Fry. | |
The event, organised by the London Evening Standard and Nook e-readers, is aimed at encouraging children to read. | |
There were also live performances from Billy Elliot the Musical and Wicked. | |
The stars were joined by children's character Peppa Pig. | |
'Absolutely magical' | |
Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who risked her life to campaign for girls' rights to education, also gave a message of support. | |
Chairman and owner of the London Evening Standard, Evgeny Lebedev, read with actress Barbara Windsor at the free event which finished at 17:00 BST on Saturday. | |
Everett read from Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince, which he said was his favourite book as a child. | |
The actor said: "I think we're reading less and less and I think we have to find a way for us all to start reading more because otherwise we're going to become more and more virtual. | |
"There's something about the written word that is absolutely magical for the development of the human brain. | |
"If it is something that is literally phased out completely we're going to become blobs, if we aren't already." | |
Grant's reading was from CS Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Homeland actor Harewood's was from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. |
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