Country music is said to travel badly.

Leave it to the inimitable Dolly Parton, then, to bring hits like 9 to 5 to a South Yorkshire town.

An inconspicuous, largely industrial UK town, Rotherham played host to Dolly, as she brought her literacy scheme, The Imagination Library, to Europe.

The Library encourages young children to read, and Dolly, armed with a copy of Beatrix Potter's The Tales Of Peter Rabbit, explained that every pre-school age child in Rotherham would be sent a free book every month.

Parton, 61, hails from Tennessee, and her Library scheme has now been replicated in 566 counties, across 36 US states.

She remains the most-honoured female country performer in history, and what stands out is an insouciant sense of wild humour.

The Independent, reporting the Rotherham event, mentioned that a blonde lady in the audience asked Parton if she minded dumb-blonde jokes. Parton's reply was a zinger: 'Of course I'm not offended. I know I'm not dumb. We know I'm not blonde. Neither are you.'

Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images