Charles Dickens is too dense for bedtime reading. John Updike is too demanding, and Raymond Carver too sad. At first, I was shamelessly promiscuous, picking up a book here, a book there.

And new research suggests there is good reason for this - with the average parent reading the same bedtime story to their children 416 times a year. That's a lot of lunches with the Gruffalo.

It also emerged two thirds of parents read to children because they know it’s important for their learning and development, while 63 per cent simply enjoy reading at bedtime. In fact ...