Aspel to guest host BBC news quiz

It will be Aspel's first appearance on the show, now in its 30th series

TV veteran Michael Aspel is the latest guest presenter to host long-running BBC quiz show Have I Got News For You.

The former This Is Your Life host will make his first appearance on the show this Friday alongside regular team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton.

"I'm thrilled, but my first reaction was pure terror," said the 72-year-old Antiques Roadshow presenter.

This week's show - which will be filmed on Thursday night - also features comic Bill Bailey and the writer Will Self.

Aspel, who quit This Is Your Life in 2003 shortly before the BBC axed the programme, said he felt some trepidation when offered the assignment.

'Gentle'

"I said: 'You wouldn't hurt an old man in glasses, would you?'," he said. "They promised to be gentle with me."

In January 2004 the father of seven revealed he has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer which affects the body's immune system.

"Thankfully it's low-grade cancer," he said at the time. "The strange thing about it is you don't feel unwell."

Have I Got News For You will be screened on BBC One at 2130 on Friday, then repeated on BBC Two at 2200 on Sunday.