Most people I know are enthusiastic readers; many are great authors, but while reading is a pleasure for us, it's something too many people have difficulty with. The National Literacy Trust helps them to realise their potential and develop the reading skills they need to get through life. Maybe one day they'll read our books, and who knows? Maybe one day they'll write their own.

This will be the only marathon I'll ever run, and it won't be easy. I'm no sort of athlete and am more likely to be found on the sofa than a running track. It's taken all my willpower to get through some 10K runs and a couple of half-marathons, and I've ached all over for days afterwards. So if you demand that I suffer pain in return for your donation, worry not, because I guarantee that I will. To misquote the late, great Chester football manager, whose face is on my t-shirt whenever I run, "Marathon running is all about pain", but "At worst it will be brilliant".