I was delighted to return to my home county of Shropshire for the week of World Book Day 2023. It was particularly exciting to speak to the Year 8 boys at Haberdasher’s Adams School in Newport as this was the school I grew up in when my father was headmaster there.

I especially enjoyed talking with the boys about the Great Fire of Newport in 1665 – a full year before the more famous conflagration in London! Huge thanks to Olivia Whittingham, the inspiring School Librarian, and her assistant, Demi, for inviting me and making me so welcome.