Best-selling author Bill Bryson wrote a new short story for the Bupa Great North Run Cultural Programme.

Bill visited the 2007 event, in which he watched his daughter compete. In his story he reflects upon his visit to the Bupa Great North Run and the magic of the big day. Bill tells the tale of celebrities and heroes, high fives and helicopters, Red Arrows and late night fire alarms, with his characteristic warmth, humour and affection.

You can read Bill's piece here.

Bryson’s witty, guileless and insightful books have been translated into dozens of languages and frequently top charts across the world, with his first book Notes From A Small Island selling 1.3 million in paperback alone. Bryson has a particular affinity with the North East, praising Durham as “a perfect little city” and becoming the Chancellor of Durham University in 2005.

“To read Bryson is to travel with a memoirist gifted with wry observation and keen insight that shed new light on things we mistake for commonplace....”Publishers Weekly