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1st December 2008

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Biographer winner in search of Barber

03.09.08 Katie Allen

The winner of this year's Biographers' Club Prize was Michael Bundock for
his proposal for In Search of Francis Barber.

Bundock, a lawyer, Trustee of Dr Johnson's House and the editor of the New Rambler, the annual journal of the Johnson Society of London, was awarded £2,000.

The prize was set up in 1998 by agent Andrew Lownie to support uncommissioned first-time writers working on a biography and is sponsored by the Daily Mail. Previous winners who have gone on to be published include prize administrator Anna Swan for Statues Without Shadows (Sceptre) and
Clare Mulley for Eglantyne Jebb And The Invisible Child (Oneworld Publications).

The shortlist also comprised of Katie Waldegrave for In the Light of His Sunset: Poets' Daughters; Sabina ffrench Blake for A Life of Henry Tonks; Edward Black for Bristol: The Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll Aristocrat; and Helen Braithwaite for Gunpowder Joe.

Bundock's proposal follows the life of Barber, a Jamaican boy born into slavery who became Samuel Johnson's valet, secretary, friend and major heir to his estate. The organisers praised Bundock's entry for "its elegant, authoritative writing and fascinating insights into opposition to slavery, inter-racial marriage, bigotry and lifelong friendship".

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