Normally serene writer Frank Cottrell Boyce will take his rage over library closures onto national radio tonight. Peter Elson reports

TO ANYBODY who knows him, the name Frank Cottrell Boyce and the words “red mist” are mutually exclusive.

Yet the beatifically-mannered writer from Crosby who exudes goodwill to children, old people, animals and everyone in-between, suddenly lost control during an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme.

Following the acrimonious row about Wirral Council’s massive closure programme of libraries across the borough, Today presenter Sarah Montague asked him if libraries were really that vital.

Ms Montague questioned if it wasn’t more important to prepare young people for the digital age, instead of providing books.

“I don’t know what came over me – I went bonkers. I just started ranting and raving about the terrible impact of losing libraries filled with books.

“I said there was no point in writing more books to get youngsters interested in reading if libraries were becoming places devoted to anti-reading matter. Eventually, I think she pulled the plug on me.”

Frank adds: “Cllr Foulkes had his ‘Marie Antoinette moment’ when he said those who couldn’t borrow a library book should buy one instead from Waterstones bookshop.

“If the man who leads the council can’t tell the difference between buying and borrowing, then we are being led by a confederacy of dunces.

“And if you live in Wirral you’ll have to leave the borough to look up that particular literary reference.

“Wirral complained that it was left out of Capital of Culture, now it appears to be bidding for Capital of No Culture.”

Far from feeling he went too far on Today, Frank will appear as a panellist on Any Questions? tonight on Radio 4, principally to talk about the iniquity of library closures.

“I’ve never done anything like this before, but when I heard that the Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, would be a fellow panellist, I had to accept,” says Frank, whose parents live in Rainhill.

He believes this is his big chance to “get into the mind” of the senior minister who is also MP for Leigh. All this is happening just as Unesco reports that reading for pleasure is an “educational magic bullet”. Children who read, do well; those who don’t, don’t do well.

“Parents go to colossal expense moving house to be near the best schools or hiring tutors. Yet encouraging reading for fun is much more effective than all that.

“And it’s much cheaper than sending your kids to Eton,” says Frank.

“At the point we find this out, we start closing libraries. But as recession kicks in we see that library membership in Cumbria has gone up by 30%.

“This is an appalling act for Wirral’s Labour council to undertake, supposedly a party dedicated to improving the life of ordinary people, no matter what their economic background.

“I also wonder what the price tags are on the library sites. Will there be more supermarkets? In spite of the recession, we see the big new Morrison’s planned for New Brighton, so we should be aware of these schemes.

“What libraries do goes beyond mere education. They are a social provision for old people, young mums, people with toddlers, teenagers who want somewhere serious to hang out.

“In one sense, they are the only public space left. Take them away and people are more vulnerable and more marginalised.

“There will one less set of people keeping an eye on old Mrs Gillmacuddy and others, who staff realise has not been in to renew her books.

“I’m involved with our Crosby MP Claire Curtis-Thomas in building a new much-needed library, so it’s bizarre that others are closing such things down that people want.”

Frank was inspired to go public with his feelings when fellow children’s author Alan Gibbons started the Campaign for the Book with Michael Rosen and Philip Pullman.

“Alan Gibbons is the Bob Dylan of public readings and he has led the way on this. When the Wirral situation blew up, I suddenly realised how serious it was and had to get involved.”

Merseyside culture guru Prof Phil Redmond has emphasised how this area’s children do extremely well at primary school levels, but then there is a terrible drop-off with their education achievements from 13 years upwards.

“Phil would not be Phil without having grown up with libraries around him in Huyton, to stimulate and educate him. He’s now looked on as a key leader for Merseyside’s future,” says Frank.

“How many future Phil Redmonds will we lose if there is not one library to inspire them? Jimmy Wales, who invented Wikipedia, says he educated himself in libraries, as does Michael Caine.”

Frank is concerned about youngsters spending too much time on the internet, an activity he brands as “narcissistic”.

“A library is a neighbourhood thing. You’ve got to react with people, not just sit in a room facing a screen.

“By not going out, you’re not getting your eye caught or led farther afield. In a library, you’re the search engine yourself.”

Instead of buying books, schools are throwing them away to make room for computers to convert libraries into learning resource centres (LRCs).

“The LRC is an educational disaster. Books become mere ‘learning resources’, reading is about functional literacy instead of pleasure,” says Frank.

“A paperclip is a learning resource. Google Earth is a learning resource. But a book is ‘the distilled essence of a human soul’. A book is something you take to bed with you. It is not a learning resource any more than a kiss is a coordinated inter-personal labial spasm.

“Yes, IT skills are important. But the library is not the place to learn them. And the book budget is not the way to fund them. Do we really have to spend money to get young people to spend even more time looking at computers?”

Reading is a portal to another world, which opens your eyes, believes Frank. He travels around the UK giving readings from his books.

He says that Shropshire County Council has taken a diametrically-opposed view of libraries compared to Wirral.

“All children’s writers get out a lot. You see how libraries and schools are part of the culture.

I really love talking to children.

“You’re not just flogging your latest film to jaded critics and journalists. The children have usually worked on your book for a term. And you always see one child in whom you’ve lit a fire.

“Librarians pull out all the stops for their profession and public, unlike councillors who seem to be just there to water the house plants. Wirral’s attitude is a massive admission of failures.”

Writing is a lonely life, so Frank also appreciates the chance to get out, see the country and meet his public.

“What you read between eight and 12 years-old has a massive effect, because it’s reading for fun. After that you read to appreciate or improve yourself. If all you read is Closer magazine thereafter, then it’s a bleak future.”

ANY Questions, BBC Radio 4, tonight 8pm; repeated tomorrow 1.10pm

peter.elson@dailypost.co.uk