Yesterday morning, Stephen Fry made a surprise appearance at London Waterloo train station to give a reading from his new book.
The Harry Potter narrator performed an immersive segment of his retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, which is now available on Penguin Audio.
The 67-year-old’s latest work is the fourth and final instalment in his versions of Greek myths from Heroes and Mythos to Troy.
Coinciding with the launch, YouGov has polled over 2000 Brits in a new UK poll to discover the nation’s favourite celebrity storyteller.
In a shocking result, a Doctor Who star beat Fry by a single percentage point to the top spot.
The 10th and 14th Doctor Who David Tennant came out on top as Britain’s favourite celebrity storyteller with 37 per cent of the vote just ahead of Fry on 36 per cent. However, the Odyssey author and narrator was No 1 among those 35 and older. In third was Olivia Colman on 30 per cent, followed by both Dawn French and Emma Thompson on 28 per cent. Additionally, Bill Nighy was on 27 per cent, Helena Bonham Cater on 25 per cent, Michael Sheen on 23 per cent and Kate Winslet on 22 per cent.
When asked what makes a great storyteller, survey respondents highlighted the ability to immerse the listener in another world (44%), a soothing tone and pace (38%), and distinct character voicing (32%) as the top three components that make their favourite narrators stand out.
On the research Fry said: “I feel deeply honoured to be considered one of Britain’s favourite storytellers. Telling a story is one of the most human and intimate things we do. Hearing a story takes us back – back to our parents, and back to the very dawn of our being. Audiobooks are, perhaps, today’s way of honouring and maintaining this ancient tradition. No wonder so many actors are more than happy to lend their voices to literature in this way, sore throats be damned.”
Odyssey, produced by Penguin Audio, is available now on all audiobook platforms.