We’re with you all the way...
Dear Readers,
YOU’LL be well aware that our resident DIY expert Martin Roberts is better known – to non-Express readers – as host of BBC property show Homes Under The Hammer.
But what might come as a surprise is that he is also an accomplished children’s author.
Our Martin can turn his hand to anything it would seem.
Grouting, tiling, surveying, property developing, presenting, writing. (Well that’s all good and well, but can he recreate Kate Bush’s dance routine toWuthering Heights from memory, like yours truly? I think not.)
For the latest edition in his Herman and the Magical Bus to
The Villes series, Martin has
Please write to Frances at her email address: frances. millar@reachplc.com We cannot respond to every email but we will try to print as many as we can
teamed up with a rather unlikely celebrity partner.
Here’s a few clues – dapper dresser, red hair, big ears. Anyone? Buck teeth, bushy tail, catchphrase is “Boom! Boom!” Yes, it’s none other than the nation’s favourite fox Basil Brush.
Martin enlisted Basil’s distinctive voice to read Herman and the Magical Bus to Sadsville for a YouTube video. He wrote it for children who are struggling with complex emotions during lockdown.
It is part of a campaign by the NSPCC and Childline to help children’s mental wellbeing, which is also the focus of his own charity The Martin Roberts Foundation.
“I have my own kids so I understand the pressures that lockdown has put on young people,” Martin tells me. “The Villes is a series of magical books aimed at children aged six to 10. In Windyville it’s always windy, in Tiredsville everyone is tired, in Sadsville everyone is sad...and the reader has to work out why.”
Free copies of the book and a study pack are being sent to primary schools, with 30,000 distributed so far. Martin adds: “Sadsville encourages children to question their emotions and think outside the box, as to why they may be struggling. It helps them find ways to feel happier and to reach out for support if they need it. “What better person to engage with people of all ages than Basil Brush?” Basil adds: “It was a booming pleasure to be part of Mr Martin’s wonderful book.”
● For more information visit martinrobertsfoundation.org.uk