Take a leaf out of Dolly’s book, Mr G

While Michael Gove faces claims that he pays little heed to educational experts, perhaps he’ll listen to the wisdom of a country music star. Dolly Parton was championing the cause of the great American novel last night, revealing how often she re-reads old favourites such as Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird.

“You can never go wrong with reading the classics,” said the 68-year-old singer in last night’s Radio 4 Front Row interview. “I have certain writers that I love — southern writers especially — and I’ll drag their books out. The older you get, the more you realise that you forget a lot of stuff, so it’s almost like getting to read a new book.”