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Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has proved to be one of the most popular names to ever perform at the Hay Festival, with tickets to his event selling out in 12 hours.

But WalesOnline has been given a pair of tickets to give away to a lucky reader in our exclusive competition.

Cumberbatch, who also appeared in the critically-acclaimed film 12 Years A Slave, was among a number of new acts last week announced for the world famous literary event.

But the 1,200 tickets, priced at £15 each, sold out within 12 hours, proving to be the second fastest-selling event in the festival's 27-year history. Only a talk by Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney in 2006 sold out quicker.

The 37-year-old, who won the Bafta LA award for British Artist of the Year, will appear at the festival on May 31 in a special event to celebrate the enduring power of literary correspondence.

He will be one of the panelists at an event called Letters Live and will be appearing with Simon Garfield and Letters of Note author Shaun Usher. They will discuss everything from Virginia Woolf’s heartbreaking suicide letter to the first recorded use of the expression ‘OMG’, in a letter to Winston Churchill.

Festival director Peter Florence said: "We're delighted that Benedict Cumberbatch will be part of the festival and his event is just wonderful. It's been done two or three times with different casts in London and looks at the letters famous people have written directly to family members and friends. The intimacy and humour is so different to the way they write publicly."

The festival runs from May 22 to June 1. Among the other new events announced is a new stand-up show from comedian Lee Mack, called Hit the Road Mack, on May 24.

In addition, Rob Brydon, Tom Hollander, Cerys Matthews and Jonathan Pryce will hold a special centenary celebration reading on May 31 of the work of Dylan Thomas during the writer's centenary year.

"We couldn't stage Under Milk Wood as there's a touring production but it's an amazing programme of poetry and a dream cast."

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