PROFESSOR John Bayley, widower of acclaimed novelist Dame Iris Murdoch, has died aged 89.

The former Booker Prize chairman, a Professor of English at Oxford University, wrote the memoir Iris, which charted his wife’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease before her death aged 79 in 1999.

The book was adapted into a movie in 2001, featuring Judi Dench as Dame Iris.

Iris Murdoch was considered one of the 20th century’s finest novelists, and The Sea, The Sea, her 19th novel, won the Booker Prize in 1978. Prof Bayley was awarded a CBE in 1999 and is survived by his second wife Audi Villers.

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