JOANNA Trollope loved the Tailor of Gloucester, for Cameron Macintosh it was always Mary Poppins and Cornish comic Jethro was happiest with the Bible.

Literati and glitterati from the south west have revealed their favourite childhood Christmas books and poems as part of Arts Council, South West's Christmas books - remember the magic of reading' campaign.

With UK literacy levels falling in the international league tables, successful authors including Minette Walters, Mavis Cheek and Victoria Glendinning are among the sixty show biz names from across the south west who have joined Arts Council South West's drive to get people, especially children, reading at Christmas.

Christmas classics such as A Christmas Carol, 101 Dalmatians, Treasure Island and the Snow Queen have been named as some of the stories that have successfully lulled south west celebrities to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Other favourite titles include A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson and the Daily Express Rupert Bear Christmas Annual.

Leading south west author Joanna Trollope, who wrote A Village Affair and The Rector's Wife, chose the Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter as her most magical Christmas book. She said: "The Tailor of Gloucester is a story that has everything - Christmas, morality, romance, magic, talking animals, songs, lovely language, exquisite pictures and a satisfactory ending.

"I especially loved it because it took place in Gloucester - and was based on a local story Beatrix Potter heard while staying near the city - and I was born in Gloucestershire, in my grandfather's rectory, and he was, in turn, a canon of Gloucester Cathedral. So I felt an especial pride, as a child, that the great Beatrix had chosen this place as a setting for what I still regard as her masterpiece."