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Six guest editors will take the helm of the Today programme on Â鶹Éç Radio 4 between Christmas and New Year.

This year's guest editors are:

Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal
David Hockney, artist
Tony Adams, former England and Arsenal captain and football manager
PD James, author
Robert Wyatt, musician
Shirley Williams, politician

In her programme PD James will quiz Mark Thompson, the Â鶹Éç's Director-General, about the future of the corporation and will discuss TV crime drama with Lynda La Plante and Sir Ian Blair.

Tony Adams' programme will include an interview with Newcastle footballer, Joey Barton, and the programme's famous racing tips will come from the Duke of Devonshire.

David Hockney will be asking if there are too many laws and whether smokers across Europe and the United States are fighting back against the smoking ban.

Today's Editor Ceri Thomas said: "The guest editors have become something of a Christmas tradition on Today and we're very pleased with this year's list.

"They will bring their own unique expertise and new – often surprising – ideas to the editorial process."

The guest editors are responsible for between a third and a half of their programme's output but the normal day and night duty editors are on hand to make sure their material is newsworthy and meets the Â鶹Éç's Editorial Guidelines.

Each guest editor is helped to turn their ideas into radio journalism by Today's team of producers and reporters.

Previous Today programme guest editors include Zadie Smith, Jarvis Cocker, Anthony Minghella, Professor Stephen Hawking and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

For more information about the guest editors please go to bbc.co.uk/today.

Notes to Editors

The guest editors will be on air between Monday 28 December and Saturday 2 January 2010.

The Today programme is Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme. Around 6.5 million people listen to Today each week.

Presented by John Humphrys, James Naughtie, Sarah Montague, Evan Davis and Justin Webb, Today is widely considered to be one of the most influential news programmes in Britain.

LZ