After Dinner Speakers: John Sergeant, Julie Andrews, Lord Desai

Writer and broadcaster John Sergeant, was the former Political Editor at ITN and for 12 years was Chief Political Correspondent for the BBC. He worked as a war correspondent in Vietnam, Cyprus, Israel, and Rhodesia. He also regularly reported from Northern Ireland and has also been an acting correspondent in Washington, Paris and Dublin. However there is another side to this serious political journalist. Before joining the BBC, John forged a career in light entertainment, appearing at the Edinburgh Festival and in the award-winning BBC TV comedy series 'On the Margin' with Alan Bennett. John has been a guest presenter on "Have I Got News for You", and a guest on many Radio 4 comedy programmes, including the News Quiz. He is currently working on a programme for BBC2 as part of the Big Read Series, and filming in the US and Vietnam. He is also writing a book on Margaret Thatcher. John's political and comedy background make him an excellent choice as an after dinner speaker and conference host.