Veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall is due in court today charged with historic sex offences.
It is the first time the 83-year-old will appear in crown court facing one count of rape and 14 offences of indecent assault.
He is alleged to have raped a 22-year-old woman in 1976 and the 14 other alleged sex assaults relate to 10 girls aged between nine and 16, between 1967 and 1986.
Today's hearing is expected to deal with largely administrative matters for a forthcoming trial.
Hall's case was sent to Preston Crown Court for today's hearing after he appeared before magistrates in the city last month who sent the case to the higher court.
The former It's A Knockout presenter said he might have considered suicide had it not been for his family after emerging from Preston Magistrates' Court at the earlier hearing.
Speaking on the court steps to a media scrum of reporters he described the accusations as "pernicious, callous, cruel and, above all, spurious" and vowed to clear his name and restore his reputation.
Hall, of Prestbury Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, has been a familiar face and voice in British broadcasting for half a century and was last year awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours.
His eccentric and erudite football match summaries made him a cult figure on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Hall has already pleaded not guilty to three separate indecent assault charges dating between 1974 and 1984.
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