Unlike that of many of his contemporaries, the music of Bob Marley has clearly (0) stood the test of time. Each year, sales of his recordings continue to hit new (1) . This will come as no (2) to anyone familiar with the tourist trail. The worldwide popularity of Marley’s songs has been bringing holiday-makers together for decades. (3) your choice of resort, it seems, there will always be at least one bar playing ‘Redemption Song’ or ‘No Woman No Cry’. The impressive sales (4) confirm Marley’s genius for creating music that anyone can (5) to. Like the man himself, it had its origins in rural Jamaica, and was a result of the combining of the island’s African traditions with rhythm and blues styles from New Orleans. Through Bob Marley and the Wailers, though, Jamaican music (6) an uncompromisingly urban stance, as valid in Birmingham, Alabama, as it was in Birmingham, England.

A few years ago, doom merchants were predicting that video games and the Internet would sound the death knell for children’s literature. But (7) popular myth, children are reading more books than ever. A recent (8) found that children up to the age of 11 read on average for four hours a week.
(9) , the children’s book market, which traditionally was seen as a poor relation to the more lucrative and successful adult market, has grown. Publishing houses are now making considerable profits on the back of new children’s books, and children’s authors can now command considerable advances. The Bloomsbury publishing house, for example, has (10) the benefits of the Harry Potter series, with profits up significantly. ‘Children’s books are (11) an incredibly fertile period,’ says Wendy Cooling, a children’s literature consultant. ‘There’s a real buzz around them. Children’s book clubs are (12) up everywhere, sales are good, and people are much more willing to listen to children’s authors.’