Tall children win big

DuBoix/Moguefile.com

Say what you like about presenter Chris Evans, the most Marmitey of Marmite men, but he knows how to get things done. Witness Carfest, for instance. Whether or not he can make a success of Top Gear remains to be seen, but we can surely applaud his 500 Words initiative.

For those of you not from these shores (or who have been living in a cave), this is a creative writing competition for children 13 years old and under, supported by the BBC. The challenge is to submit a 500-word story and first prize in each age group is a stack of books as tall as Chris (1.88 metres - that's a lot of books) and 500 books for the winner's school library.

There are some fun videos of the Radio 2 website to get the youngsters started, but I've had a look and these Story Staraters are pretty useful for us oldies, too. At the very least, pop over the press Alphabot's tummy to generate five random words.

It's so much more entertaining than Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.