Duchess of Cornwall: 'I spend my life reading'

Thanks to the telegraph for this one...
The Duchess of Cornwall has spoken of her fondness of reading, saying she loves being able to “forget about everything else” and immerse herself in a novel.

The Duchess joined author Tony Parsons to read with Transport for London (TfL) employees who are taking part in a course to improve their English.

After reading extracts from the author's novel, Beyond The Bounty, she told the class how she spends much of her spare time engrossed in books.

“I spend my life reading to my grandchildren, trying to get them to concentrate. It takes you completely out of yourself.

"You can forget about everything else and bury yourself in a book,” said the Duchess, who is Patron of The National Literacy Trust, the Wicked Young Writers' Award, Booktrust and First Story.

TfL runs the classes at its HQ in London for all employees who want to improve their confidence and ability with spoken and written English.

The Duchess said she found it "nerve wrecking" to read aloud after some of the TfL students delivered extracts from the book, which Parsons write for the charity Quick Reads.

She praised their “bravery” in reading out sections to the class.

Quick Reads, which works with the TfL scheme, was launched by the book trade in 2006 in response to a government report that revealed 12 million people in the UK have literacy difficulties, while one third of the population never picks up a book.

Parsons is just one of the authors involved with Quick Reads and has contributed by penning a short novel especially geared towards those who may be dyslexic, a stranger to books, or have simply fallen out of the habit of reading.

This month sees the launch of the charity's "fall in love with reading" campaign, with a line-up of eight books from authors such as Lynda La Plante, Maeve Binchy, Conn Iggulden and Parsons.

Speaking about the charity and the campaign, Parsons said: "It's a campaign that will never end and it's a campaign that we can feel that we are winning."

Parsons said that although he came from a relatively poor family, there were always books in the house. He added that to deny your children that privilege is "like sending your child to school with no shoes on".

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