BBC |

North West Tonight presenters Annabel Tiffin and Roger Johnson were presented with rather special mugs on World Book Day.

The china mugs, created by award-winning designer Alison Tordoff for her new Love District range, featured two favourite books chosen by the news anchor team.

Annabel had picked a family favourite from when her children were younger, If you give a pig a pancake, while Roger had chosen The case of the missing masterpiece. Both titles were incorporated into a wraparound design of bookends featuring Alison’s fantasy news and weather related books.

They were handed over in the North West Tonight studio at the BBC Media City HQ. “I thought it would be a fun thing to do on World Book Day,” said Alison, whose design company is Fidget Design. “I wanted to stress the importance of reading, particularly for young people. They need to be encouraged to read books.”

A range of china mugs featuring Lake District spoof titles was also launched on World Book Day. The same titles can be found on a wallpaper design in the Love District range, and on tea towels and aprons. The wallpaper was made originally as a prototype for Windermere’s Cedar Manor Hotel, which has won awards for design excellence.

The Love District is a new label from Fidget Design which celebrates the history, culture and landscape of the Cumbrian fells and lakes.

The range also includes hand-made cushions decorated with outlines of the Lakeland fells, including Catbells, Haystacks, and the mountains at the head of Wastwater, voted Britain’s favourite landscape view. “The ideas for this new label were inspired by Cumbria and the Lakes,” said Alison, who has won awards for her hotel designs.

“I am passionate about the Lake District and its rich culture of art, history and literature, as well as the landscape.”

Based in Windermere, Fidget Design has won national and international awards including best hotel interior in the International Hotel Awards. Items from the Love District range can be bought from the website, www.thelovedistrict.com. The range will eventually include design-led gifts and home accessories including fine china mugs.

A percentage of the initial sales of the new range will go to the charity Lupus UK, which is researching causes and possible cures of the complex auto-immune disease.