Cheltenham announces its line-up

Miranda Hart, Russell Brand, Sarah Millican, Matt Lucas, and Peep Show star Robert Webb are all taking part in this year’s Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The full-line up has been announced, with a total of 1,000 guests taking part in the annual ten-day event, which this year runs from October 6 to 15.

Hart introduces young readers to her debut children’s book The Girl With The Lost Smile on the opening day.

Brand tells his story of addiction and recovery on October 15;  Millican reads from her book of anecdotes and advice, How To Be Champion, on October 14;  and  Lucas  shares tales from his autobiography Little Me: My Life From A–Z… on October 13

Webb will discuss the expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life, as explored in his book How Not To Be A Boy, on October 8.

In other sessions, Jack Whitehall’s dad Michael will be launching his memoir about his life as a showbiz agent, Backing Into the Spotlight with his friend and Countdown host Nick Hewer on October 14.

Nicholas Parsons will be presenting his autobiographical comedy show on October 10, followed by a festival version of Just A Minute with poet Pam Ayres, journalist Paul Blezard, actor Maureen Lipman and comedian Marcus Brigstocke on October 12.

There is also a session about returning BBC comedy W1A in which The Times TV critic Hugo Rifkind is joined by actors Monica Dolan and Jason Watkins and writer and director John Morton on October 15.

The No Such Thing As A Fish team of QI  researchers will be recording an episode of their podcast on October 11

And Armando Iannucci is co-presenting a session about classical music with violinist and  Radio 3 presenter Clemency Burton-Hill on October 9.

Other big names making an appearance at the 68th festival include Mary Berry, Matt Lucas and Salman Rushdie.

Nicola Tuxworth, head of programming, said the line-up was the ‘culmination of a very intensive few months of hard graft’.

Public booking opens on Wednesday September 6 at 1pm and the official website is here.

Published: 13 Aug 2017