Moore walks in fairytale footsteps

British actor Roger Moore and American crooner and civil rights promoter Harry Belafonte followed in the footsteps of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen.

Moore and Belafonte, acting as goodwill ambassadors for festivities marking Andersen’s 200th birthday, took a few steps along a five-mile route through Copenhagen that leads to places where the author lived and worked.

Named “In the Footsteps of Hans Christian Andersen”, the walk inaugurated today is marked by 2,000 white footsteps in the writer’s shoe size painted on the pavement.

“In many ways, almost anything about Andersen is much bigger than I am,” Belafonte said after walking along the first few steps of the route.

Strollers can learn more about Andersen’s life in Copenhagen on 62 signs along the walk.

Posted on the signs are telephone numbers that people can call to get more information in Danish or English in a recorded message by British actor Sir Derek Jacobi.

The official bicentenary celebrations for Denmark’s most beloved writer start tomorrow with a play at Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre and end Sunday with a reception in the capital’s city hall.

On Saturday, royals and other celebrities will board a special train to Andersen’s native Odense where American literary critic Harold Bloom is to be presented with the Hans Christian Andersen Award in a special ceremony. They will return to Copenhagen in the afternoon.

Born April 2, 1805, Andersen was the son of a charwoman and a shoemaker. He is famed for children’s classics including The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Little Mermaid.