You can have a go at God, but not fairy stories!

Some people say things to annoy. I make it my duty not to let my blood boil, because I know it’s their idea of fun.

Over the years I have listened to scientist Richard Dawkins attacking religion, but without my blood pressure rising. After all, God is big enough to take care of Himself.

However, this week Professor Dawkins has been attacking fairy stories. He thinks they are “pernicious”. At a science festival in Cheltenham he attacked the idea that kissing a frog will turn him into a prince as “statistically improbable”.

Puss in Boots could never have done up his laces, because he didn’t have opposable thumbs. A bear, tiger, piglet and kangaroo could never have lived happily side by side, as they do in Winnie the Pooh. So he wags his finger and instructs us to stop misleading our three-year-olds. Now I really am furious.

Firstly, get your facts right Professor Dawkins. If you examine Winnie the Pooh you will see the illustrations make it clear that these are not real animals, they are Christopher Robin’s precious toys.

My toddler grandson has a shelf of stuffed animals. He loves them dearly, and they snuggle up to each other. He knows they aren’t real, but he giggles delightedly when the tiger puppet growls and attacks him.

It is, Mr Dawkins, developing his two most crucial weapons which will enable him to survive the worst the world can throw at him an imagination and a sense of humour.

A.A. Milne created glorious, recognisably real characters out of those toys. It’s more than 60 years since I first read them, but these characters, flawed but lovable, still make me smile.

Who hasn’t kissed a frog to see him turn into the prince of our dreams?

I won’t say my beloved late husband Desmond was a frog, exactly, when I first met him. He was always dashing and glamorous. But he did make a terrible impression on me that evening at a dinner party. An impression which totally changed once I got to know him. When we kissed . . . then Desi became a prince instantaneously.

There is a point to the fairy tale. Do not expect, girls, that the man of your dreams will be obvious at first sight. It may take time before you see his magical qualities. It may even take that first kiss to convince you.

Cinderella? There are deep truths locked in that story, too. That one child can be scape-goated. Alas, we know that can happen. That the kitchen maid sitting by the fire (or a certain air hostess’s daughter studying at a Scottish university), may be the first commoner to capture the heart of Prince Charming . . . or Prince William. And that the little old lady gathering a bundle of twigs may turn out to be a Fairy Godmother, so help her carry her burden, and don’t underestimate her.

It’s a story that inspired a wonderful ballet, as Sleeping Beauty did, and what about Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Fairy tales can inspire geniuses to create art that gives as much joy as all the scientific inventions in the world.

So go back to your God-bothering, Professor Dawkins, he can take it. But leave me to tell the story of Jack the Giant-killer to my grandson.

Who knows? He may grow up to be a giant-killer himself. And looking around our troubled world, we could certainly do with more of those.