Gripped

BBC pensioner Mark Byford, who turned 56 yesterday, dips his toes in the world of book festivals this August.

£7 (£5 concessions) gets you an hour with the author of Vietnam/WWII parallel-history-opus 'A Name On A Wall', at the Edinburgh Book Festival, on 20th August.   With Ming Campbell in the chair, 175 seats are on offer.

"A Name On A Wall" has recently been endorsed as 'gripping' by irrepressible Man From Uncle star, Robert Vaughn.

• If you're feeling flush, you can move straight on to the slightly-more-expensive Kate Adie, BBC pensioner and presenter (£10 - £8), with 570 seats available to hear her opine on women of the First World War, in her treatise 'Fighting On The Home Front'.