Prime Minister jumps on board novel project

A READING by the Prime Minister which aims to introduce the 161-year-old novel Moby-Dick to a new generation has gone live.

David Cameron has voiced chapter 30 of the classic American novel as part of the Moby-Dick Big Read.

He is among a number of stars including Stephen Fr y, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sir David Attenborough who have jumped on board the ambitious project to broadcast all 135 chapters of Herman Melvile’s novel over 135 days.

Since Swinton took on the novel’s opening, Call me Ishmael, on September 16, the website has been visited by almost half a million people, placing it in the iTunes podcast charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mr Cameron’s chapter, The Pipe, went live on the project’s website yesterday.

When his involvement in the project was confirmed Mr Cameron said: “This is a really exciting project aimed at introducing this literary masterpiece to new audiences.

“I am par ticularly pleased to be able to contribute a chapter alongside so many people from the local community and wish all involved the very best in their efforts to make classic literature accessible to all.”

The Moby-Dick Big Read has been two years in the making and originated from the mutual obsession with the book by awardwinning author Philip Hoare and artist Angela Cockayne. The daily readings, broadcast online, are accompanied by images inspired by the book from contemporar y ar tists including Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley.

Readings can be downloaded from mobydick bigread.com