Given the extraodinary life led by the author it is no surprise that the title of his book But What do you Actually do? is frequently posed to him. In this wonderfully entertaining journey we are taken from his childhood as a wartime evacuee in America to his career as a highly successful historian and biographer, via a stint as a foreign correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. We travel with him from Germany to America, from Canada to France, from Latin America to the Middle East. A consummate biographer, the pages of Alistair's 'Literary Vagabondage' abound with vivid character sketches of the friends and foes that have shaped his life. A sparkling memoir by one of our greatest historians.

But What Do You Actually Do? – Orion

There is hardly an area of the food world that Orlando hasn't covered either as a journalist, cook or hotelier. He has written cookery books, edited the BBC's Good Food magazine, was a semi-finalist on Masterchef in 1992 and ran a gourmet B&B in South-West France which was the subject of his book A Table in Tarn. He now runs the successful Langford Fivehead in the heart of the Somerset Levels.

The ever popular River Readings are back. Drift along the river in the company of some excellent readers. The words are chosen by Nansi Diamond who directs the Readings. The cast of writers includes: Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Spike Milligan, Philip Larkin, Carol Ann Duffy, Seamus Heaney, Ogden Nash, e.e. cummings and John Betjeman. The boat leaves from Hobbs boatyard. Boarding starts from 10.30am and 12.30pm.
The readings are hosted by: Tues Sept 27 - Helen Lederer, Wed Sept 28 - Nigel Starmer Smith, Thursday Sept 29 - Jeremy Child, Friday Sep 30 - Donald Trelford, Sunday Oct 2 - Jeremy Child.
Amongst those reading are : Sally Nesbitt, Mike Hurst, Philippa Tozer, Jane Robins, Richard Howard, Clive Franks, Nicola Holllis and Lottie Ferguson

Sponsored by Hotel du Vin & Bistro Henley-on-Thames

The centenary of the sinking of the Titanic arrives next April and one of the most intriguing stories from the maritime disaster involves J. Bruce Ismay, the ship's owner and inheritor of the White Star fortune. When the ship hit the iceberg he jumped into a lifeboat with the women and children and rowed away to safety. This act made him the first victim of a press hate campaign, and his reputation never recovered. The consummate biographer explores Ismay's desperate need to make sense of the horror of it all and to find a way of living with lost honour.

How to Survive The Titanic – Bloomsbury

Is there an area of life where the name Freud isn't synonymous with talent and flair? In her latest novel Esther – daughter of artist Lucian and great-granddaughter of Sigmund – turns to the world of acting for inspiration. As a teenager she trained as an actress before becoming an acclaimed author. Lucky Break follows the lives of a group of very different young actors– Nell, Charlie, Dan and Jemma - over a decade as they pursue their ambitions in their careers and in life. A wonderful look into a fascinating world by an exciting novelist.

Lucky Break – Bloomsbury
Sponsored by HW FisherThe

Lucinda enjoyed huge success with her history of the lavatory Temples of Convenience and then followed praise for The Queen's Dolls' House about the Royal miniature at Windsor Castle. Now as the title suggests she turns her attention to 'animal architecture and other beastly buildings'. This chronicles buildings and monuments for everything from goats and guinea pigs to deer and dogs, cows and bees, pigs and horses and even bears and salmon. Wonderfully told with splendid gusto in the great
British tradition.

Palaces for Pigs - English heritage
Sponsored by Simmons & Sons

No need to check on the cobwebs or that cupboard that never seems to get a look-in, this time Aggie is not coming because of How Clean is Your House? – the TV series that made her so big in the world of household tidiness – but to cook. She's just as gifted in the kitchen and has been working on a cookbook to add to her other array of talents. She writes a food column in Good Housekeeping so she knows her food. Clean, tidy and a good cook...a paragon around the house.

As a highly praised advice columnist and hugely experienced journalist she has collected a vast array of notes, essays and recollections that could indeed change your life. The author of four books is as natural in expressing herself in front of an audience as she is in her written words. She bases her view on four beliefs elegantly distilled thus: "We cannot change others, only ourselves. We know more than we think we do. We find the answers in stillness. And, the fourth truth, which I have learned from thousands of people: we are not alone."

Life Lessons – Hay House

To write biographies of great writers is a task fraught with danger but Selina Hastings has become highly respected through her books on Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Rosamond Lehmann and Somerset Maugham. Now she provides a fascinating insight into the world of Mitford and Waugh, who were not only brilliantly witty writers but also friends whose many letters are filled with malicious jokes and gossip. The Oxford-educated writer worked for 14 years on the The Daily Telegraph and for eight years was literary editor of Harper's & Queen - a fascinating grounding for the world in which she made her name.

Nancy Mitford – Vintage, Evelyn Waugh - Vintage
Sponsored by HW Fisher

The ever popular River Readings are back. Drift along the river in the company of some excellent readers. The words are chosen by Nansi Diamond who directs the Readings. The cast of writers includes: Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Spike Milligan, Philip Larkin, Carol Ann Duffy, Seamus Heaney, Ogden Nash, e.e. cummings and John Betjeman. The boat leaves from Hobbs boatyard. Boarding starts from 10.30am and 12.30pm.
The readings are hosted by: Tues Sept 27 - Helen Lederer, Wed Sept 28 - Nigel Starmer Smith, Thursday Sept 29 - Jeremy Child, Friday Sep 30 - Donald Trelford, Sunday Oct 2 - Jeremy Child.
Amongst those reading are : Sally Nesbitt, Mike Hurst, Philippa Tozer, Jane Robins, Richard Howard, Clive Franks, Nicola Holllis and Lottie Ferguson

Sponsored by Hotel du Vin & Bistro Henley-on-Thames

One of the most familiar faces from our television screens comes to the festival. Having started as a reporter with ITN – during which time he was badly wounded by gunfire in the Biafran War - Peter became the first anchor for Channel Four News and was then poached by the BBC to front the main news and follow Robin Day to chair Question Time. In a book that pulls no punches he takes us through his successful and dramatic career at the top and gives his uncompromising views on the current state of television news.

When One Door Closes – Biteback
Sponsored by HW Fisher

For Nick Coffer the one advantage of his business struggling was that he decided he would stay at home to look after his growing toddler, Archie. They even started a video blog about their home cooking (www.mydaddycooks.com) as what began as a bit of fun attracted a worldwide following. Archie became the star of the show, taking the role of sous-chef . Life-long foodie Nick then began to create his own recipes on a modest budget and has put 100 together in a book.

My Daddy Cooks – Hodder and Stoughton

For over 500 years Dante's The Divine Comedy has inspired writers from Shakespeare to Beckett; and continues to dazzle readers today. But how much do we know of the world in which he lived and what inspired him? The prolific and award-winning biographer and celebrated novelist A N Wilson presents a glittering study of an artist and his world, arguing that without an understanding of medieval Florence, it is impossible to comprehend the meaning of Dante's great poem. It also lays bare the enigma of the man who never wrote about the mother of his children, yet immortalized the mysterious Beatrice, whom he barely knew.

Dante in Love - Atlantic Books
Sponsored by HW Fisher

A fictional character, Tom Thorne, brought Mark and David together. Stand-up comedian, actor and thriller writer Mark created detective Thorne who has now been at the centre of mayhem in eight very successful novels. David Morrissey is a highly praised actor with a string of well-reviewed roles on the stage, in film and television. After reading Mark's Lifeless and while filming in New Zealand, Morrissey found an interview in which Mark said he would like Morrissey to play Thorne should a screen adaptation ever be made. When he returned to England, Morrissey arranged a meeting and the two began developing the TV production - a six-part television series for Sky that was adapted from the novels Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat.

Good as Dead – Little, Brown
David Morrissey's appearance is subject to acting engagements. In his absence, Simon Kernick will appear.

Can the financial meltdown be humorous? Indeed it can in this account of London's upper-crust, family-owned bank of Tubal & Co. It is in trouble. Masterminded by the bank's chariman, Julian Trevelyan-Tubal, hundreds of millions of pounds are being diverted – temporarily – to shore the bank up until it can be sold while his ageing father, Sir Harry, lies incapacitated by a stroke at the family villa in Antibes. A critically acclaimed satire on the financial crisis that affected us all by an award-winning South Africaborn author.

Other People's Money – Bloomsbury
Sponsored by HW Fisher

The former cookery editor of Good Housekeeping has written dozens of books. Seen as an 'unsung Delia whose recipes always work' . Her latest are for the Bonne Maman recipe book: a collection of over 80 savoury and sweet recipes revealing the versatility of cooking with conserves or compotes. Today she plans to show you how to make some of the following: Cherry & Mulled Wine Sauce, Spice Apricot & Carrot Cake, Strawberry Ripple Ice Cream.

No journalist knows more about India than Mark Tully. He has witnessed its development into a country now viewed as potentially one of the major world economies of the 21st century. But have the changes had any impact on the poor and marginalised? Can India's democracy contain the mounting resentment of those left out of the new economic order? Can a high growth rate be sustained with India's notoriously corrupt and inefficient governance? How is India going to feed itself unless agriculture is reformed? This book sets out to answer these questions through interviews with industrialists and cricketers, plutocrats and former untouchables.

India: The Road Ahead – Rider and Co
Sponsored by Baillie Gifford

To enjoy a wonderful acting career, have co-created Upstairs, Downstairs (in which she famously played Rose) and The House of Eliott would satisfy many. But Jean Marsh also writes novels. Today she will talk about her stellar career and Fiennders Abbey, a gripping novel of emotional and social upheaval written, as one would expect, with considerable elegance, thought and wit. It is hard to believe that Upstairs, Downstairs was launched in 1975 and still continues. Her life is a fascinating story of a rise from humble beginnings to award-filled adulation.

Fiennders Abbey – Pan MacMillan

No one would dare call Ben Fogle's life ordinary - the word extraordinary is barely adequate. He has rowed across the Atlantic in 49 days, crossed Antactica in a foot race to the South Pole, run 160 miles across the Sahara Desert in the notorious Marathon des Sables and skated across Sweden. He has encountered WWII plane wrecks in deepest darkest Papua New Guinea, flesh-eating diseases in Peru and snakes in Venezuela. He is a charming and a natural presenter so sit back for a riveting evening as he talks about the book that tells his story.

The Accidental Adventurer – Transworld
Sponsored by Baillie Gifford

'Hello. My name is Bill and I'm a bad beekeeper. A really bad beekeeper,' so writes the man we see each morning on the sofa presenting BBC Breakfast. This is the private world of affable Bill as he recounts in a very charming and amusing tale of his life as a beekeeper. Despite many setbacks - including being stung in the head (twice) on his first day of training – he is a veteran with the Zen-like acceptance of a man who knows his enthusiasm will always outweigh his abilities. At the same time his stories highlight the very real threats to our bee population, and what we can do to create a better environment for them.

The Bad Bee-keeper's Club – Little, Brown
Sponsored by Baillie Gifford

This pretty cafe on Friday Street provides the perfect intimate venue for
poetry readings. Ask the box office for more details.
Wine and supper available.

No one was closer to the financial meltdown that swept across the world than Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling. His book captures all the important events during his three-year tenure as chancellor in Gordon Brown's cabinet, especially his experience at the heart of the global banking crisis. He also details the pivotal role he played with the former prime minister in putting together an international rescue package. An exciting opportunity to hear from the man at the very centre of finance and politics in the period that shook the world.

Back From the Brink – Atlantic
Sponsored by Baillie Gifford