Children's writer and comedian David Walliams has been reading Roald Dahl stories to his son Alfred during lockdown.
"Every now and again I go 'look at the picture, look at the picture!' and always a smile spreads across his face when he sees Quentin Blake's brilliant, brilliant illustrations."
David Walliams Photo: YouTube screenshot
Blake illustrated Walliams' first two books The Boy in the Dress and Mr Stink. His latest – and 27th – book Slime was illustrated by another master Tony Ross.
"Most of the time I just let [the illustrators] get on with it and I'm delighted with the results … great illustrations. Not only can they draw really well, but they know what to draw.'
Books with plenty of pictures are much less intimidating for reluctant readers, Walliams says.
"I think about being a kid and going to my local library every couple of weeks and thinking about what book I wanted to take out. And generally, I would flick through the book, look at the illustrations and think 'does that look like an interesting story?' And if there weren't many illustrations or they looked boring I'd often think 'I don't want to get that book out' because I look forward to looking at the pictures most of all."
Walliams' main aim when writing any story for kids is just to entertain them. To do that, he tries to entertain himself while writing.
He also listens to classical music: "Classical music makes you dream … it's so expansive, you know?"
He recently made David Walliams Marvellous Musical Podcast and would love to do more podcasting.
"Podcasts have been an absolute godsend, haven't they? Anyone who's been at home with their children and tutoring their home is very grateful to have something for the kids to listen to for 15 minutes or half an hour while they run a bath or make the lunch or whatever."
During, lockdown Walliams had been doing daily readings of his books.
"People are suffering because they're not able to work. Although it's lovely to spend more time with your kids, the situation – because it's forced on you – is not that easy to deal with so I'm really glad we've been able to do something positive and it seems to have gone down really well."
He has also been involved with ITV's wellness campaign Britain Get Talking.
"Sometimes you think I've got all this time and its not that bad… other times you start thinking about the future and you start feeling a bit despairing. So it's quite a rollercoaster emotionally and psychologically. Talking to people as much as you can is really, really, helpful … particularly thinking about people who are on their own."
Walliams' mum, who is in her 70s, lives alone and hasn't really seen anybody for weeks – apart from neighbours dropping off shopping.
He calls her every day on FaceTime and she tells him all of the things she looks forward to have been cancelled.
"She really loves those days out and we're not going to be able to have any and no-one knows when we might be able to have one next. Which is weird… it's a very odd time and very important to connect with friends and family members as much as you can."
What Walliams is looking forward to most when lockdown lifts is a swim.
"I get a wonderful feeling of freedom in water. I really miss that. I love open water swimming, I love seas, I love rivers and lakes."
David Walliams has sold 40 million books worldwide. Since 2012, he has been a judge on the television talent show competition Britain's Got Talent.
