Clint Eastwood, famous for not saying much in his films, is tonight speaking at the historic Oxford Union debating society. The 73-year-old Holywood legend is being interviewed by TV film critic Barry Norman.

The star of Dirty Harry and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, who went on to have a brief career in local Californian politics, today sent a grim and characteristically terse message of congratulations to his fellow movie star-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger - "now the nightmare begins".

Tonight he is due to talk about a career going back to the TV series Rawhide in the 1950s and his forthcoming film Mystic River.

Oxford Union president Marcus Walker said all 470 tickets for the members-only event sold out in minutes yesterday. He said he was delighted Eastwood had agreed to address the society, adding: "He isn't just going to make my day, he will make my term."

Eastwood's appearance follows others by Michael Jackson, the Dalai Lama, US presidents Nixon, Carter and Reagan, and Kermit the Frog.

Other speakers at the union this term include Colonel Tim Collins, the British officer lauded by the media for his leadership in Iraq and since cleared of maltreating prisoners, farmer Tony Martin who was jailed for killing a teenage burglar and singer Charlotte Church.

Born on May 31, 1930, the son of a San Francisco steelworker, Eastwood began his acting career after he dropped out of a business degree to work in a variety of B-movies.

He was nominated for a best actor Oscar for 1992's Unforgiven, and won the best director Oscar for the same film.

In 1986 he was elected as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.