LORD Bragg will be interviewed by pupils at Ivy Bank High School, Burnley when their radio station goes on the air for the third time in October.

His 20-minute telephone interview will be the star spot in the school's three days on the air waves which will also include the US Ambassador to Britain, a top ballet executive and possibly a tennis star.

Lord Bragg -- Melvyn Bragg before he was made a peer -- will answer questions on his life and hear a review by the pupils of his latest book, "Soldier's Return," based on his own experiences when his father returned from Burma at the end of the Second World War .

The television personality and author was born and brought up in Cumbria, where he still has a house.

Ivy Bank development officer Michael Watson said: "We are delighted to have Lord Bragg on the programme. He really took an interest when we told him what the students were doing." Gill Tookey, executive director of the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain will visit the school for an interview in its temporary studio. She will be questioned by pupils who who have taken up ballet at Ivy Bank two weeks before the Youth Ballet gives a performance in Manchester, its first outside London.

Philip Lader, US Ambassador to Britain has also agreed to a telephone interview with pupils.

Radio Ivy Bank FM's main sponsors, HSBC Bank, have approached the agent of tennis star Tim Henman about the possibilty of a telephone interview. Mr Watson said:"They are still waiting for a reply, but it would give the broadcast a great boost if we could get him."

Oscar winning film producer Sam Mendes, of "American Beauty" fame, has turned down an invitation to appear on the show. But he wrote to Mr Watson: "I am afraid I have given up all interviews for the foreseeable future as I feel I have done too many in the last six months! However, I wish you all the very best."

The broadcast will cover a radius of between three and five miles and will be launched on October 9. Last year the school presented one-day and week-long broadcasts under restrictive service licences from the Radio Autjority.