A BROADCASTER, former newsreader and a leading politician are all due to appear at Woodstock's second literary festival, from October 12-15.

Broadcaster Jeremy Paxman will launch his new book On Royalty (Viking, £20), while former newsreader Michael Buerk will interview Claire Bertschinger, a nurse who worked for the Red Cross during the Ethiopean famine of 1984, about her autobiography Moving Mountains (Bantam, £7.99). Tory leader and Witney MP David Cameron will be talking to Godfrey Howard, author of The Macmillan Good English Handbook (£6.99).

Geraldine McCaughrean will discuss Peter Pan in Scarlet (OUP, £12.99), her official sequel to J. M. Barrie's classic, while Oxfordshire author John Mortimer will start the festival by reading from his new novel, Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, on Thursday, October 12, at 3pm in St Mary Magdalene Church, Park Street.

The festival will also offer an opportunity for readers to question the editor of The Oxford Times, Derek Holmes, who will be talking to Alistair Lack about 'The Future of Your News' on Sunday, October 15, at the town hall at 11am, The 41 events featuring novelists, historians, biographers and politicians will be listed in The Oxford Times nearer the time. For more details, call 01993 813632.