Speakers included Richard Dowden, Ekow Eshun, A. C. Grayling, Christopher Hitchens, Andrew Roberts, Lola Young, Jeremy Isaacs, Geoff Dyer, Jonathan Kaplan, Andrea Levy, Tariq Ramadan, Tariq Modood, Julia Hobsbawm, Bryan Appleyard, Joan Bakewell, Tim Harford, Lewis Wolpert, Geoff Mulgan, Philip Ball, Carmen Callil, Lesley Chamberlain, Geoff Mulgan, Chris Smith, Eric Sykes, Roy Hattersley, James Lovelock, Charles Handy, Pankaj Mishra, Paul Rusesabagina, Sebastian Junger, and Margaret Atwood[12][13] The 2007 festival, held 9–30 May, sought to explore "questions on the arts, Englishness, happiness and affluence, Africa, big business, spirituality, crime and justice, science and peace."

Speakers included John Cornwell, Julian Baggini, Alan Sokal, Harriet Lamb, Astrid Proll, Andrew Anthony, Sheila Rowbotham, Dominic Sandbrook, Peter Tatchell, Raymond Tallis, Charles Leadbeater, George Ferguson, Jon Ronson, Jean Moorcroft Wilson, Adrian Tinniswood, Andrew Mawson, Ben Macintyre, Gerry Anderson, Susan Greenfield, Nick Davies, Simon Singh, Edzard Ernst, Patrick Cockburn, Philippe Sands, Matt Frei, Naomi Klein, Alan Weisman, Kate Mosse, Gary Marcus, and John Bolton.

[19] Events during the main Festival featured speakers Aravind Adiga, Tariq Modood, Peter Singer, James Lovelock, A. C. Grayling, Christopher Caldwell, John Gray, Richard Holmes, Paddy Ashdown, Nick Cohen, Wayne Hemingway, Susan Blackmore, Christopher Brookmyre, James Harkin, Tariq Ramadan, David Aaronovitch, Bruce Hood, Geoff Dyer, Tristram Hunt, Marcus du Sautoy, Ben Goldacre, Ruth Padel, Richard Fortey, and Gillian Beer.

[28] They include Wallace and Gromit; a special Festival event was held in December 2009, chaired by Christopher Frayling, to mark the 20th anniversary of the creation of the characters by Aardman Animations, based in Bristol.

[30] Speakers included Barbara Ehrenreich, Stewart Brand, Brian Eno, Albie Sachs, Rebecca Goldstein, Steven Pinker, Germaine Greer, Paul Davies, Phillip Blond, Peter Singer, Christopher Frayling, John Boorman, Will Hutton, Richard Wilkinson, Paul Collier, Norman Stone, Wendy Grossman, Simon Hoggart, Peter Hitchens, Ben Shephard, Ben Goldacre, Francis Wheen, Richard Holloway, Andrea Levy, Mike Hodges, Melvyn Bragg, Dorothy Rowe, David Eagleman, Anthony Julius, John O'Farrell, Antonia Fraser, Brooke Magnanti, Gary Younge, Christopher Hitchens, Annie Leonard, Barbara Ehrenreich, Bernhard Schlink, and Will Self.

[34] In subsequent years, the festival has featured such American media figures as former National Public Radio reporter Sarah Chayes discussing corruption[35] and historian Thomas Frank speaking on the history of populism.