A STAND-UP comedian who became a bestselling author received rapturous applause after his headline talk at the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature.

Jonathan Meres entertained more than 500 Year 7 pupils at a raucous show in the Wyvern Theatre yesterday.

The event began with a frantic 20-minute routine which saw him freewheeling through a variety of voices, impressions and jokes at a rapid-fire pace as he raced around the stage.

He quickly captivated the young audience and seemed to have a direct line to their funny bones.

His interactive set frequently prompted laughs, shouts and claps from the school pupils.

At times, he even seemed slightly taken aback by the crowd’s responses.

His musing that “In an ideal world - well, it’s not an ideal world at the moment, we’re all going to die.” was met with joyous cheering, much to his surprise, as was his suggestion that his picture books for younger readers should end with an adorable bunny being run over.

When, eventually, Jonathan began talking about his World of Norm series, which has sold more than one million copies, he said: “They are funny books but they can still tackle serious subjects.

“What happens in Norm’s life is stuff that happens to you every day -trivial little things that escalate until it seems like your whole world is going to explode.

“I called him Norm because I wanted him to be a relatable and universal character.

“He has annoying siblings, he’s blamed for things he didn’t do and sometimes he feels like everything is so unfair.

“I was inspired to write the first books when my sons were teenagers, though I never thought I’d end up writing 12 or that they’d do so well.”

Jonathan’s claim that books are better than the videogame Fortnite caused controversy amongst the audience and when he asked for a show of hands of people who thought books were dull and who thought they were interesting, the result was split 50/50.

The result would probably have been very different after the show, which concluded with a boisterous question-and-answer session and a singalong finale.

Jonathan added: “I hope I’ve changed a few opinions on what authors are supposed to be like.”

“The only thing I ever wanted to do was join the Merchant Navy. After that, it’s just been a series of very fortunate events.

“It’s great to be back in Swindon, I’ve had an amazing time.”

Jonathan has served in the the Merchant Navy, wrote for and acted in TV, worked as a voice actor, and performed on the stand-up circuit.

He came down from Edinburgh just to headline the Swindon YFL.