Festival opens with best-ever line-up

Speakers include Maureen Lipman, Nicholas Parsons and Ken Hom

The Blenheim Palace Literary Festival opens tomorrow with the best line-up of speakers and authors in its history.

Some events have already sold out, including Boris Johnson, Alice Roberts and Julian Fellowes.

However, tickets still remain for some of the festival’s star attractions including actress and writer Maureen Lipman, pictured right, historians Diarmaid MacCulloch and Karen Armstrong, historian and novelist Kate Williams, former Cabinet Minister Liam Fox,  chef and cookery writer Ken Hom, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, and comedian and radio and TV presenter Nicholas Parsons.

Music features strongly this year with appearances by the great US opera singer Jessye Norman and by the lead singer of progressive rock band Marillion Steve Hogarth.

All these events and more can be booked online through this website up to an hour before they start. A walk-up box office will be available in the corridor outside the Orangery and Marlborough Room at Blenheim Palace during the festival.