TOP TV arts and literary critic and best-selling novelist Melvyn Bragg will be in the city next Friday, June 11, to launch the literary arm of the St Albans Festival.

He will be at the Maltings Arts Theatre from 7.30pm where he will be talking about his successful South Bank Show series during the filming of which he has met and interviewed many of the greatest cultural icons of our age.

He has revisited some of the artists and used the interviews for fuller portraits in his new book.

Now Lord Bragg of Wigton, he was born in Cumbria in 1939 and after reading modern history at Wadham College, Oxford, he began his broadcasting career as a producer for the BBC in 1961.

Since 1967, he has pursued a distinguished career as both a writer and broadcaster, writing, editing and presenting The South Bank Show since 1978 and as Controller of Arts at London Weekend Television since 1990.

Further information about the visit can be obtained from Waterstone’s on 01727 834966.