Bedtime stories are one of the most important parts of the day

Stories give us a way to make sense of the mysteries of the world, make us better listeners, and help us express our deepest fears, writes Katy Brand

Lessons in empathy start early when you can see the world from the point of view of another, and then another, then another (Getty/iStock)

A few years ago, I asked my agent at the time if she could enquire about the possibility of me reading a bedtime story on CBeebies. My young son was of the age where he was starting to really watch it properly, and I thought I may be in with a chance to impress him.

My efforts at point had only resulted in a weary, “Mummy, I’m not laughing.” And so, the call went in, and we waited, and then finally the answer came back – a polite, professional, “No, thank you”, along with the slight implication that they were knee-deep in A-listers, and I would have to wait until the big names dried up and they had slipped the bookings process further down the celebrity alphabet. Quite a long way further down, as it turns out, as five years later I am still hovering by the phone.

It is yet one more show business rejection I will take on the chin, and I don’t mind it since we have the delights of Tom Hardy, Dolly Parton, Elton John and Bridgerton’s Rege-Jean Page to enjoy. I mean, for the children to enjoy.