EXCLUSIVE Why Peter Crouch and Abbey really are on the same page: They read the same novels at exactly the same time… And wait till you hear how Gyles Brandreth and his wife do it too (book lovers turn away now!)

Most couples are happy to spend their evenings together on the sofa watching the latest box set on TV.

But former England striker Peter Crouch and his model wife Abbey Clancy have found a particularly novel way to bond – by reading the same book at exactly the same time.

The pair have confided that they buy two copies of the same novel and read them together – even trying to stay in sync on the same page.

Ms Clancy, 37, a model who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, said: ‘We always read the same book and we discuss it the whole way through. It’s like watching a box set.

‘And if Pete goes to the toilet he’s like ‘Stop reading, stop reading. We have to read on the same page.’ ‘

Former England striker Peter Crouch and his model wife Abbey Clancy have found a particularly novel way to bond – by reading the same book at exactly the same time

Best-selling author Gyles Brandreth and his wife do the same trick. He said: ‘When you’ve been married for 50 years, you might think you’d run out of things to say. If you read the same book at the same time, there’s always something to talk about’

The couple claim it makes family holidays real page-turners.

READ MORE: Abbey Clancy pulls on a Santa hat as she enjoys a family day out with husband Peter Crouch and their four children at LaplandUK 

Crouch, who retired as a player in 2019, added: ‘We are quite sad like that. It is mad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other couple sit on the sun loungers and read the same book. But we do, we always do it. It’s actually really, really pleasant.’

The stars, who have been married since 2011 and have four children, confessed to their habit during the latest edition of their podcast The Therapy Crouch. They insist that reading copies of the same book together is a bonding experience. However, they admit that it can have its drawbacks – depending on their choice of title.

On a recent short break to Thailand they each bought a copy of Loyalty, the latest novel by thriller writer Martina Cole. The book, which has won rave reviews, is based on the relationship between two young girls who meet in a care home.

Ms Clancy said: ‘The flight to Bangkok was 13 hours, so we didn’t have one wink of sleep. We read the whole book from start to finish. But I sobbed and cried. It was harrowing but we couldn’t put it down.’

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Crouch and Ms Clancy are not the only celebrity couple to share a book.

Best-selling author Gyles Brandreth said: ‘When you’ve been married for 50 years, you might think you’d run out of things to say. If you read the same book at the same time, there’s always something to talk about.

On a recent short break to Thailand Peter and Abbey bought a copy of Loyalty, the latest novel by thriller writer Martina Cole

‘My wife Michele and I regularly read the same book at the same time.

‘She reads much more quickly than I do, so she gets the book first and, when she gets to the end of a page, she tears it out and passes it to me. I read it and then I put it in the paper recycling bin.

‘We only do this with paperback books. It’s extravagant, I know.

‘We started it on holiday in Turkey years ago. We realised we had only packed one book between us – the paperback of The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope. The only way to share it was tearing out the pages as we read it. If it’s a book we both agree we loved we then buy a hardback to keep on our shelves. With paperbacks we simply devour them – and then throw them away.’

Upstairs Downstairs star Simon Williams said he and his wife Lucy Fleming have their own version of the shared reading experience.

He added: ‘I think it’s adorable what Peter and Abbey are doing. Lucy and I are reading the same book at the moment. She is reading a hard copy and I’ve got an Audible, so we are discussing that a lot. If you are discussing it with someone it lodges it in the real world. I think that is good.’

How strange… but how inspiring that people under 45 are reading at all 

By MARY KILLEN

At first I scoffed at the idea of the Crouches being so controlling of each other. It’s a style of reading that smacks slightly of being in a cult, or a folie a deux – a special kind of intimate lunacy.

I tend to think that reading, like eating, is something to be enjoyed without outside interference. My husband, Giles, likes to disrupt my enjoyment of eating something particularly good by trying to dictate how I load my fork – ‘Put the lamb on, then the redcurrant and now the halloumi’.

At first I scoffed at the idea of the Crouches being so controlling of each other. It’s a style of reading that smacks slightly of being in a cult, or a folie a deux – a special kind of intimate lunacy

But at least he never goes so far as to make us eat the same mouthfuls at the same time.

Surely reading the same book, page by page, at the same time, would promote more of a sense of claustrophobia than of being harmoniously in tune with a soul-mate? But then again, the idea of anyone under the age of 45 reading at all is inspirational.

Many of us have had our concentration spans nuked by social media, and most maliciously by TikTok (with which I suspect China may be hoping to give the rest of the world a lobotomy).

In order to get my own husband to take in something interesting I have read, I usually have to read it out to him while he is performing some other task on autopilot, such as pruning or grooming the dog. It’s the only way I can get Giles’s attention.

If he were a different sort of person – for example, one who would enlighten me as I went and add dimensions (which he is more than capable of doing), I might well be interested in reading a book with him in the Crouch-style.

But since annoying me is my husband’s raison d’être, he would be acting daft and saying things like: ‘But you can’t end a story in the middle of a sentence!’

And I would be falling for it and saying: ‘Don’t be silly. It continues on the next page.’

So I say good on the Crouches for being so delightfully tolerable to each other – and for reading in the first place.

In an age obsessed with social media, picking up a book can seem anti-social.

No wonder this high-flying couple feel the need to make it less so.

And it’s admirable, of course, to cheer one’s partner on through all life’s little ups and downs – even when they are totally fictional

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