Phil Mcdermott, who is based in London, has been a storyteller for 25 years. He tells stories at primary schools across the city to help children improve their literacy skills. Phil trained as an actor and starred in the TV soap, Eastenders. His Irish father taught him many of the great folk tales and legends from Ireland. He believes there has been a revival in storytelling in the UK since the 1980s. The story of “Grandad and the Laundry Basket” is Phil’s modern take on an ancient tale that appears in Somalia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In that country the basket in the story is actually a rice basket or ‘Dohti.’