Liz Lochhead: Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off

Maggie O’Farrell on the books that inspired her childhood

Val McDermid on the Scottish referendum: 'We wanted to call our house swithering heights'

Liz Lochhead: Credo for working in Scottish theatre

Howard Jacobson reads from his novel J

Sylvie Guillem on life after dance

Ian Rankin: Crime writers need to cope with Police reorganisation

Dean Owens sings Delia's Gone

Jesse Jackson: 'Can you imagine a state in Germany having the right to fly a Nazi flag?'

Simon Cartwright as Bob Monkhouse

Fred MacAulay's five festival picks

Richard Coles: 'It was our ambition to bring down Margaret Thatcher with pop music'