“Narnia fans’ fury after Liam Neeson claims Aslan – the symbol of Christ – could also be Mohammed”, reads a furious headline in the Daily Mail. Neeson, who provides the voice of Aslan the lion in the new film of C.S. Lewis’s book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, has scandalised middle England by claiming that the character is also based on other religious leaders.

“Aslan symbolises a Christ-like figure”, Neeson has stated, “but he also symbolises for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries. That’s who Aslan stands for as well as a mentor figure for kids – that’s what he means for me.”

The Mail has tracked down Walter Hooper, Lewis’s former secretary and a trustee of his estate, who says that the author would have been outraged. “It is nothing whatever to do with Islam,” he is quoted as saying. Hooper attributes Neeson’s remarks to political correctness and a desire to be “very multicultural”.