Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Big Read was a year-long BBC survey conducted in the United Kingdom in 2003, inviting the public to vote for the nation's best-loved novel. Over 700,000 votes were received, and the BBC described it as the biggest single test of public reading taste the country had seen.
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings won the BBC Big Read, placing first in the final vote. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice came second, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials placed third.
Viewers could cast votes in the BBC Big Read by web, SMS, or telephone. The public first nominated any novel they wished, producing a longlist of 200 titles. The 21 highest-placed novels then advanced to a final vote, with only one book permitted per author in the shortlist.
Terry Pratchett placed fifteen novels in the BBC Big Read top 200, more than any other author. Jacqueline Wilson came second with fourteen entries, followed by Roald Dahl with nine.
The BBC Big Read was restricted to novels, so William Shakespeare's plays did not qualify. The survey's rules excluded all non-novel formats from the outset.
Several countries staged their own equivalents of the BBC Big Read. Australia held My Favourite Book, Germany ran Das grosse Lesen, Hungary mounted A Nagy Konyv (The Big Book), Bulgaria and Latvia each staged their own versions, and the United States held The Great American Read.