Emma Clayton reflects on Dolly Parton’s incredible legacy, not least in Yorkshire.
It is thanks to Dolly Parton that children in Yorkshire get a free book every month for the first five years of their life.
Dolly’s Imagination Library project started with a few dozen books posted to children in East Tennessee - and went on to gift more than 300 million books worldwide.
READ MORE:'Rest in Peace Dolly. There will never be another'
The first Imagination Library in the UK was launched in Rotherham in 2007. A Bradford branch was founded in 2012, on Canterbury estate, later extending to Keighley.
The idea is simple: an age-appropriate book is sent through the post, addressed to the child, every month from birth until their fifth birthday. The aim is for them to build up a home library and foster a love of reading.
“We believe literacy is a way out of poverty,” said Jan Winter, who founded the Bradford branch. “Encouraging a love of books and reading in children’s earliest years will pay dividends for their future education, employment and life skills.”
Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995, handing out books to children in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up, one of 12 children, in a two-room log cabin. The child literacy project was a tribute to her father, who couldn’t read or write.
Today, one in seven children under five in America receives a free monthly book from the scheme.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell posted on X that Dolly “sparked a lifelong love of reading in kids around the world”.
It’s one of the reasons the country music superstar is remembered for her philanthropy, as well as for being a legendary singer-songwriter, following her death this week, aged 80.
Think of Dolly and it’s her songs - 9 To 5, I Will Always Love You, Jolene - that spring to mind. And that signature look; the carefully cultivated brassy blonde.
Behind it all was a shrewd business brain and a great humanitarian. Her Dollywood Foundation, set up to inspire children to achieve educational success, led to a significant decrease in the US high school drop-out rate.
She donated hundreds of millions of dollars to literacy projects, healthcare, disaster relief funds and wildlife conservation.
Dolly was a grafter. She grew up, in her own words, “dirt poor” but was powered by optimism. She was Pollyanna, but boy was she smart...with that knowing sense of humour.
Dolly Parton superfan Mark Wilson in 2007
Often ridiculed for her style, she had the last laugh. “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb...and I also know I’m not blonde,” she famously said.
She was a rarity - a showbiz legend nobody had a bad word about. She transcended generations, race, politics and class.
And, in a world where so many celebrities turn every cough and spit into public property, she kept her private life private. As Taylor Swift said in her tribute to Dolly: “She managed to give the world the ultimate mystery and fantasy in some corners of her life, but to give full transparency in the ways that counted.
“Somehow she was true grace and true grit, all in one dazzling person. She possessed the softest heart when it came to the struggles of others, and a backbone of steel to defend her own self worth as an artist.”
“She could give a masterclass on how to handle fame,” Dolly superfan Mark Wilson once told me.
For Mark, who met the singer several times, her appeal was “her star quality, talent and down-to-earth attitude”.
“She’s so grounded when you meet her, she never forgets your name and is always happy to pose for photos - she insists you take two in case one doesn’t come out,” he said.
I interviewed Mark at his home, which was a shrine to Dolly. He was 12 when he discovered her, in a photo in his mum’s magazine. There she was, spilling out of a red glittery dress, a mountain of blonde curls piled on her dainty head, lipstick glossy as a skating rink.
“Who’s that?” Mark asked his mum. “That’s Dolly Parton,” came the reply.
Mark had been obsessed with Dolly ever since, spending £50,000 on memorabilia, concert tickets and trips to Dollywood. He’d been to more than 30 Dolly concerts and met her several times - once queueing for 10 hours.
“I’ll never forget the first time I met her,” Mark recalled. “This tiny shoe with a 5in heel appeared from behind the car door, then a hand with 2in painted talons - then she was right there in front of me!”
I could hear Dolly singing before I reached Mark’s front door. Inside, walls were covered in posters and everywhere I looked there were DVDs, CDs, vinyl, books, magazines, mugs, plates, T-shirts, caps and a collection of Dolly dolls - Dolly in gingham, a little black dress, white lace bellbottoms...
His most prized possession was a “bottle of Dolly water” retrieved from a concert. “She was sipping from a bottle, I was on the front row and as soon as she’d left the stage I grabbed it! It has her lipstick on,” he smiled.
Mark, who ran a website and newsletter dedicated to the star, posted a copy of my article to Dolly, and later told me she’d replied to say she enjoyed reading it. I was thrilled.
Farewell Dolly. The world is a poorer place without you - but all the richer for having had you in it.
What a woman. What a legacy.