Times Literary Festival Welcomes Speakers Corner’s Top Orators

Oxford is the centre of the book-reading world this week as the elite literati gather for the annual Sunday Times Literary Festival, and Speakers Corner is proud to present a handful of its best who will be giving inspirational and entertaining presentations.

The 2011 Festival will present the most impressive and prestigious programme yet with speakers including novelists, historians, scientists, economists, cookery writers and commentators.

This year, events in the Middle East will be highlighted in The Chancellor's Lecture on Our Last Best Chance - The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril, delivered by HM King Abdullah of Jordan.

Tim Smit, Chief Executive and co-Founder of The Eden Project talks about the first 10 years of Eden which has attracted attention from environmentalists around the world, and the UK's most outspoken academic Dr. David Starkey charts the sweep of the nation's history from the Romans to the Windsors - and offers a tantalising glimpse of his second volume on King Henry VIII.

Other literary speakers at the festival include historians Niall Ferguson and  Simon Sebag-Montefiore; scientist Marcus de Sautoy; economists David Smith, Will Hutton, Ian Goldin, Nigel Lawson, and cookery writers Ken Hom and Madhur Jaffrey.

Also speaking are commentators including Matthew Parris, David Aaronovitch, Peter Sissons, Jonathan Powell and Adam Boulton.