Salman Rushdie: Book project "worth 10 Millennium Domes"

The prince was speaking at a reception hosted by the Millennium Commission at the British Museum in London to recognise a project that distributes literary classics to school libraries.

He called for the scheme to be extended to the performing arts.

"Why can't the Millennium Commission or the lottery think about an even more imaginative scheme which would enable many more children to witness the best theatre, music and other performing arts?" he said.

'Amazing value'

"We have got the money through the lottery, I think many new generations of schoolchildren would be allowed access.

"Just allow them to experience it."

Author Salman Rushdie, who was at the event, said: "Now that Harry Potter has taught the nation to read again, maybe they will read something else - next step Tolstoy.

Orwell's 1984 is one of the books distributed

"To have a project like this is amazing value - it's worth 10 Millennium Domes at a fraction of the price."

Chris Smith MP, former culture secretary,, pointed out afterwards that the government was to spend �40m on a scheme similar to the prince's.

"It is all about getting the performing arts organisations working together with the schools," said Mr Smith.

The event at the British Museum marked the completion of the Everyman Millennium Library project, which distributed free copies of 250 classic novels - from George Orwell's 1984 to Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - to 4,500 secondary schools.