World record attempt for biggest reading lesson
BBCThousands of young people and teachers have gathered for a mass reading class, as part of an attempt to break a world record.
The attempt, held in Fratton Park in Portsmouth on World Book Day, was attended by about 7,000 people, according to the organisers. Many were dressed up as characters from popular children's books.
It featured a book reading by author Dan Freedman, who said reading was "such a key skill".
The event, held on World Book Day, was also attended by officials from Guinness World Records who will decide if the event's attendance broke a world record.
Freedman, known for his Jamie Johnson stories that follow a young footballer, read one of his books aloud for the crowd to follow along, while giving a lesson on why he wrote it the way he did.
Speaking to the BBC before the lesson, he said that words were some of the most "important and powerful forces".
"I think football and stories are two of the best things to bring people together," he said.
He said that the most difficult thing about planning the lesson was appealing to the broad age range among the attendees.
"How to bring words alive ... that's what we're going to talk about in terms of intonation, pausing, to help the children when they're reading in future.
"It's such a key skill in terms of entertaining ourselves and communicating.
The event was held on World Book Day - the annual celebration of reading and literacy.
The lesson was part of the In Our Words initiative, a year-long literacy campaign designed to boost reading in Portsmouth through community activities.
Gemma Nichols, chief executive of Portsmouth Creates said: "We got together in a room a little while ago and had an ambition to come together and do something really radical and stand-out for the city, so that's what we've hopefully done today," she said.
"I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a sleepless night last night in terms of the logistics - it has been really, really busy, so hats off to the team here."
