FACT OF THE DAY

James Kelman won the Booker Prize on this day in 1994 with 'How Late It Was, How Late'. Written in a stong Glaswegian street dialect and populated with more than 4,000 occurrences of the F-word, the novel was a controversial choice - with one judge deciding to quit the debate. Although Kelman's novel was described as "vulgar" by English commentators such as Simon Jenkins, many literary critics agree that the Glaswegian author is one of the most important, politically charged writers working today. Read all the book reviews from our literary critics here

The photo is there for a bit of colour. R.