The History of Literature podcast is a member of the Podglamorit Network and LitHub Radio.

Hello, that music you're hearing comes from London as the 1970s turned into the 1980s.

And if it sounds to you like an advertising jingle, that's because that's exactly what it is.

When you open an account with Burnley Building, you got a free copy of this record sung by George Chandler and written by a then unknown advertising writer in London who had written a science fiction novel that nobody had read and critics didn't think much of.

But he had hit it big advertising wise with the phrase,

you resist the bubble for a chocolate bar and a line that'll do nicely for American Express.

Soon thereafter, the songwriter would become famous in the literary world for his novel Midnight's Children, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.

Seven short years later, he would be perhaps the most famous writer in the world.

When the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was then the supreme leader of Iran, responded to his fourth novel, the Satanic verses, by calling it blasphemous against Islam,

and proclaiming a fatwa ordering his execution. A bounty was placed on his head, sending him into hiding and police protection.

He was not quite 40 years old at the time.

His name, of course, was Salman Rushdie. It's rare for a writer to make it onto the front page of the newspaper, and rare are still for that,

writer to be the cause of geopolitical upheaval. His life and works would be worth our time even if the fatwa had not occurred.

But because it did, we can be confident that Salman Rushdie will be an indelible part of literary history, for as long as there is such a thing.

The Salman Rushdie story, today, on the history of literature.

Okay, here we go. Welcome to the podcast. I'm Jack Wellsad. This one is a special request.

From an old friend of mine who loves Salman Rushdie, and in particular, loves his book for children, Haroon, and The Sea of Stories, which is a good reminder to me to tell all you parents out there to read to your kids.

You probably are already, but hey, let me tell you, I'm on the other end of things now with kids starting to think about college, and I have a couple of investments that are paying off.

One is the money I sucked away in the 529 fund. Thank goodness I did that. College is ridiculously expensive, or it can be here in the States.

I didn't have a lot, but luckily I started early, and it grew, but the other and more meaningful investment were the hours upon hours of reading to my kids.

Anything they wanted, whenever they wanted, assuming I was available, and luckily for all of us, I didn't have the smartphone in those early years because I'm not sure I'd have been strong enough to resist.

Well, maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit, but anyway, there is magic in books. You all know that, and there's magic that happens between a caregiver and a child with stories being transferred and language and love.

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