Mainly based at the Quarterhouse, Folkestone Book Festival runs from Friday, November 4 until Saturday, November 12. Here are five of the best shows on offer.

Saturday, November 5, 5pm

Having started his career as a comedian in the late 1960s, by the 1980s Johnny had become the face of maths and science for a generation, presenting the iconic Think of a Number and Johnny Ball Reveals All. These days he presents a slot on his daughter Zoe’s Saturday Morning Show on Radio 2 called Ball of Confusion. In this show he talks about his new puzzle and problem book of the same name. Tickets £7, concessions £6.

Barry Cryer: Butterfly Brain

Saturday, November 5, 7.30pm

On this hypothetical journey from A to Z, the I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue legend embarks on an odyssey of oddities. A stream of unconsciousness and sit down comedy. Tickets £15, concessions £13.

Monday, November 7, 5.45pm

Maverick radio DJ and foreign correspondent Andy Kershaw is back with this no-holds-barred autobiography of a full-throttle life. A passionate enthusiast for music over a 25-year career, he has worked for the Rolling Stones, shared an office with John Peel, and introduced world and roots music to Radio 1. Tickets £8, concessions £7.

Arabella Weir: The Real Me Is Thin

Thursday, November 10, 5.45pm

Arabella unravels her own eating history in this humorous and frank appraisal of attitudes towards eating disorders and obesity. The author of Does My Bum Look Big In This?, Arabella is best known for her role in BBC2’s The Fast Show and is a commentator in the Guardian and on Radio 4 comedy series Smelling of Roses. Tickets £10, concessions £8.

Friday, November 11, 8pm

To find out whether hideous prose and ghastly poetry are more fabulous than what he considers great literature, Robin has spent most of the 21st century rummaging through charity shops and jumble sales. This is the follow up to The Book Club, hailed by the Observer as “the outstanding literary event of the Edinburgh Festival.” Tickets £10, £8.