Australian author Peter Carey pipped Oxford writer Ian McEwan and four other short-listed candidates to win the Booker Prize last night.
Mr Carey became only the second writer to win the Booker Prize twice - and revealed he would be taking out fellow nominee Ian McEwan for a slap-up meal to celebrate.
Carey won the £21,000 first prize for his novel True History Of The Kelly Gang at a dinner at London's Guildhall.
The writer previously landed the title, regarded as the leading fiction award in the UK, in 1988 for Oscar And Lucinda. He was also shortlisted for the prize in 1985 for his epic, Illywhacker.
Also shortlisted this year were Ian McEwan's Atonement, Oxygen by Andrew Miller, number9dream by David Mitchell, Hotel World by Ali Smith and The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert.
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