We're delighted to be able to announce that Neil and Sharon Finn will be joining us on the good ship Dixie Queen (below) for our cruise on the Thames on Sunday afternoon. They'll be featuring in the podcast, talking about Pajama Club, the band they started when their children left home. They may even be able to do us a tune or two.

That means that you get a full set by CW Stoneking & His Primitive Horn Orchestra, a podcast presented by David Hepworth and Mark Ellen (including audience participation), a trip past some of the great landmarks of London, a fully-stocked bar and the company of lots of members of the Word Massive for £35, or £12.50 for under-18s.

We leave Tower Pier at 2.30 and return at 5.30 so you've got lots of time to get back to wherever you've travelled from. And we're promised by the BBC that the weather is going to be fine. Not that it matters because the entertainment will be taking place under cover. You can buy tickets here. http://www.wegottickets.com/event/124911

Look forward to seeing you!

The Waterfront Stage: Flawless, Lost Dog, Alleviate

Film & Music Arena: Johnny Flynn, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (above)

Theatre at Latitude: Mouth To Mouth, Luci Briginshaw

Literary Arena: Lindsey Kelk, Neil & Ivan McCormick

Comedy at Latitude: The Boy With Tape On His Face, Diane Spencer, Joe Wells, Joe Lycett, Eric Lampaert, Danny McLoughlin

Cabaret Arena: Fat Content

The Faraway Forest: Gwendolen Chatfield

Pandora's Playground: Fuel Sheds

More information about this year's festival: http://www.latitudefestival.co.uk/

There's barely a minute that goes by without more additions being made to the bill at this year's Latitude Festival, and here are the latest.

Theatre at Latitude: National Theatre of Scotland, The Opera Group, 1927, Curious Directive, Stargazing Workshops, Black Roses ~ John Tiffany

Music & Film Arena: Tate Britain and Shunt, Alexander, The Cats Meet Show

Literary Arena: Julie Myerson, Diana Athill, Robin Ince presents Double Science, Arianne Cohen, Miles Irving

Comedy at Latitude: Adam Buxton, Lucy Porter (above, right), Simon Munnery, Steve Hughes, Nathan Caton, Carl Donnelly, Shaun Keaveny, Carly Smallman, Toby, Rob Beckett, Tom Deacon, Isy Suttie, Elis James, SPANK!

Cabaret Arena: Duckie, The Razzle, Tina C, Ida Barr, Rubberbandits, Showstopper: The Improvised Musical, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, The Big Bingo Show

Poetry Arena: Serafina Streer, Simon Barraclough, Alex Gwyther, Tom Warner, Thick Richard, Hollie McNish, Caroline Bird, Ventriloquist

Faraway Forest: Les Enfants Terribles, Rachel Rose Reid & The Roundhouse Experimental Choir, Native Faces, City Shanty Band

Pandora's Playground: Made In China, String Theatre

Literary Salon: Joel Stickley’s How To Write Badly Well

There's much excited shrieking in the Word office at the moment, at least from one corner of the room. News has just reached us that They Might Be Giants will be playing on the Obelisk Stage at Latitude, while the Word Arena will be graced by the presence of one of Fraser's favourite bands, the mighty kings of Brazilian Tropicalia Os Mutantes. Tickets are available here.

Meanwhile, Mark Lamarr's God's Jukebox now features Ska Cubano, Barrence Whitfield, Kalakuta Millionaires and The Zizaniques, while Goldierocks has been added to the DJ lineup.

We're delighted to be able to reveal that Lykke Li has been added to the Word Arena bill on Sunday Night at Latitude. The Swedish pop radical will be the penultimate turn of the day, hitting the stage before Eels. Here's a video.

This news literally dropped through our letterbox a few moments ago, so you're almost the first to know apart from the artistes themselves: Glasvegas, Seasick Steve, Iron & Wine and Dog Is Dead have all been confirmed for Latitude. Get in, as they say.

As part of our ongoing mission to bring you Latitude news the very moment it's announced, we're delighted to reveal the latest acts to be added to the bill. There's a rare UK visit from Grammy-winning Americana legend Lyle Lovett. There's a return to the festival stage for the legendary Echo & The Bunnynen. There's one of India's biggest cultural exports of recent years, the Raghu Dixit Project. And there's The Cribs, Johnny Marr's current band.

As ever, the latest news can be followed on our Latitude page.

Eamonn Forde is at the venue, no doubt tweeting in typically filthy fashion, but for those of us who care about such things there's probably no better place to enjoy the Brits than from the relative comfort and safety of the Word blog.

So why not settle back with a glass of warm milk and a packet of rich tea biscuits, and enjoy the event as it unravels? This year's live blog starts right here. Now.

For those of you attending our "Word In Your Ear" event this evening, here's some details:

8pm: Doors
8.30-9pm: The Wutars
9.15-9.45: Lulu & The Lampshades
10-11pm: The Divine Comedy

David Hepworth will be on the ones and twos, Kate Mossman will be giving away raffle tickets (prizes include jars of Fraser's spicy fruit mostarda), while Mark Ellen will be on "don't take the brown acid" duty, responsible for on-stage announcements and introductions.

If anyone has any messages they'd like Mark to read out (in the style of wedding telegrams from absent guests), please leave details in the comments.

Writing about music is like tap dancing about architecture. David Hepworth will be either proving or disproving this theory next weekend at the Sage Theatre Gateshead when he takes part in the Words And Music weekend put on by New Writing North. He'll be frantically improvising on whether you can write anything meaningful about the new album by Spiggy Topes along with some people who probably know far more about the subject than he does. Anyway, he would appreciate your support if you happen to be in the area. There may even be an opportunity for a tiny meet-up of the Word Massive north east chapter. Has that been done yet?

For members of the Massive still umming and ahhing over whether to buy tickets for Latitude this year, we have some troubling news to report: it's sold out. All 35,000 tickets.

For those that are attending, we'll continue to bring you news of Word-related activities and additions to the line-up as soon as we get wind of them.

Some press releases are greeted with more excitement than others at the Word - indeed, most are swiftly deleted or tossed casually towards the recycle bin - but the one that arrived today telling us that John Grant (left) had been added to the Latitude Festival bill actually prompted a cheer.

Grant's wonderful Queen Of Denmark album is probably the disc played most often in the office this year, so we're delighted he'll be appearing on the Obelisk Stage. Other new additions include Villagers, Rox and School of Seven Bells at The Word Arena, while the Sunrise Stage will play host to Frightened Rabbit, These New Puritans, Angus & Julia Stone and Lissie.

As usual, the complete line-up can be viewed at the Latitude Website, where tickets can also be purchased, while our own Latitude page is the best place for keeping up-to-date with the most up-to-date news.

As anyone who's been to the Latitude festival knows, there's plenty to see away from the main music stages, and we've received notice of a whole load of stuff that's just been confirmed. Here's the roundup:

Comedy: Mark Watson, David O’Doherty, Josie Long, Angelos Epithemiou, Jimmy McGhie, Chris Ramsey

Theatre: Lyric presents: Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lyric presents: The Island by The London Snorkelling Team, The Factory, Theatre503, Forest Fringe

Film & Music Arena: BAFTA: Q&A with Paul Greengrass, Mark Lamarr presents God’s Jukebox: The Skatroniks and Noel Mckoy

Literature: Sebastian Faulks, Howard Jacobson, Peter Hook

For full line-up details, and to buy tickets, check out the Latitude website.

1. You might have missed David Hepworth droning on about Steely Dan on Wednesday 23rd at 11.30 on Radio Four, but hey, don't despair, it'll be on the iPlayer for a couple more days yet

2. Watch David Hepworth among the talking heads in The Greatest Songs of the Noughties on Channel 4 on December 28th at 21.00

3. Listen to David Hepworth and Eamonn Forde talking about Bob Dylan on 6 Music on December 29th at 7 p.m.

4. Complain to the BBC Governors about the over-exposure of David Hepworth.

5. Take the plunge and sign up with Twitter if you haven't, but don't follow anyone apart from Eamonn Forde. He may well be the world's most gloriously rude man.

6. Go to your subscriber page on the website, check your details and update your email if necessary - you won't get our weekly newsletter if your address isn't current.

7. Check your iTunes podcast subscriptions. If in doubt (iTunes will put a subscription on hold if you haven't listened recently), delete the Word podcast and then re-susbcribe. And don't forget to leave a flattering comment.

8. It's the time of year you decide to organise your iTunes library. This might help.

9. Exchange unwanted Christmas books for ones you actually want at Green Metropolis.com.

10. Yes, it's him again. Listen to David Hepworth's Christmas Spotify list.

Edit: This post is being re-promoted as only two (TWO!) members of the class have submitted their homework, so thanks to students Iain McKinney and Specs_Beard for your efforts - they're very much appreciated. The rest of you would make Ms Day's Christmas a happy one if you did the same. Thank you.

While the Word Download Store has been updated with some of the best new releases (Them Crooked Vultures, Espers, Dave Rawlings Machine and Rakim) alongside a few of our favourite albums of the noughties (Madness, The Phantom Band, Midlake and Richard Hawley), Ms Day has become a little concerned that she's completely run out of reviews written by YOU, members of the Word Massive.

You know the score: choose an album from the store, scribble down 80-100 words on why people might like it, and send it to Fraser. It'll feature on the store homepage alongside reviews submitted by Word staffers Ellen, Hepworth, Harrison, Mossman, Johnson, and Lewry.

Do it now. Ms Day will be delighted, and Tiny Tim won't go hungry this Christmas.