Media    From 1969 

Booker Prize

Categories: Benefactor, Literature

Literary award. Originally known as the Booker–McConnell Prize, after the company Booker, McConnell Ltd who first sponsored the event. When administration of the prize was transferred to the Booker Prize Foundation in 2002, the title sponsor became the investment company Man Group, which opted to retain "Booker" as part of its official title.

We've always wondered at the naming of this award for book-writers so we checked: The business of Booker, McConnell used to be sugar, rum etc. in British Guiana - with a questionable reputation for its treatment of the workforce. In 1952 Jock Campbell took over the company and turned this around becoming a benevolent company. He also initiated the company's interest in literature. So the name of the prize is just more more example of nominative determinism.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Booker Prize

Commemorated ati

Hugh Walpole

This plaque is possibly spurious. It has definitely upset the Chairman of the...

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Maria Hawes Ware

Maria Hawes Ware

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Person, Benefactor, Race Issues

1 memorial
Lady Winifred Fortescue

Lady Winifred Fortescue

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Person, Benefactor, Literature, Theatre, France

1 memorial
William Charles Niblett

William Charles Niblett

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Person, Benefactor, Law, India, Singapore

1 memorial

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E. J. Bird

E. J. Bird

Surbiton man killed serving in WW1. Did he work at the Stock Exchange?

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War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Normansfield Asylum

Normansfield Asylum

See Lost Hospitals of London for an excellent history of this hospital. Briefly: The White House, a mansion with 5 acres of grounds, was built in 1866.  Dr Langdon Down and his wife Mary bought it ...

Group, Children, Medicine

1 memorial
Hy. Gunn

Hy. Gunn

Resident of the West Ward, Hendon who served and died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Gus Elen

Gus Elen

Music-hall singer. Born Ernest Augustine Elen at 103 Pulford Street, Pimlico. He started performing in public houses in 1891, singing songs about working-class life. Moving on to the stage, he beca...

Person, Music / songs, Theatre

1 memorial
Bow Fair

Bow Fair

Known as the Green Goose fair, it was held on the Thursday after Pentecost. A green goose was a young or mid-summer goose, and also a slang term for a cuckold or a low woman. In 1630, John Taylor, ...

Event, Commerce

1 memorial