The festive guest editors for Radio 4's Today show have been announced. Sir Tim Berners Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium, PJ Harvey, musician, Eliza Manningham Buller, former director general of MI5, Michael Palin and Anthony Jenkins, group chief executive of Barclays will be editing the current affairs show between December 26 - 31.
Palin will be joined by fellow Monty Python member John Cleese on his show to discuss a famous interview where they both defended The Life of Brian against criticism from the Church of England. On Tuesday it was announced that the five surviving Pythons are set to reunite for a stage show.
Today has been bringing in Christmas guest editors for the past 10 years. They take responsibility for around half of the programme's output with the assistance of Today's producers and reporters. The usual day and night editors are on hand to make sure that the material is newsworthy and meets the BBC's Editorial Guidelines.
Berners Lee's episode of the show will look at how the internet might develop and change daily life, 25 years after he launched the service.
Harvey will discuss her political, poetical and musical influences and Manningham Buller will explore the use of pigeons in spycraft. Thomas Heatherwick, designer of the Olympic Torch, will help her to look at how we make our cities more distinctive.
Palin will also broadcast findings from a trip to Ethopia, where he investigated what was needed by small farmers in developing countries.
Jenkins will examine the changing workplace and the types of jobs young people should be preparing themselves for.
Previous guest editors have included Professor Stephen Hawking, Yoko Ono, Zadie Smith, David Hockney and Dr Rowan Williams.
