How telling tales may be worth up to £2,000

A COMPETITION to discover the UK's best amateur storyteller is launched today to help revive the tradition of bedtime stories.

Bernard Cribbins, who narrated the children's television programme The Wombles and read stories on Jackanory, has teamed up with phone and broadband company TalkTalk to find the top tale-teller.

The hunt follows a survey which found that 57 per cent of adults believe the tradition of parents reading bedtime stories to children is dying out.

Half of parents said they read to their children before bed while more than 60 per cent said they thought adults should be encouraged to read to youngsters, according to the TalkTalk poll.

Cribbins said: "Reading bedtime stories as a family activity seems to have been overtaken by other forms of entertainment. I'm proud to be supporting this campaign to get storytelling back on the family agenda."

The winner will be selected by Cribbins from a publicly-voted shortlist, and awarded the top prize of 2,000.