Book on Alexander the Great written while its author had cancer wins the £50,000 Baillie Gifford prize

Professor Edmund Richardson, 44, a historian at the University of Durham, beat a six-strong shortlist to take the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction at a ceremony in London on Wednesday evening. His book, 'Alexander: God, King, Man', is the first ancient history title to win the prize since it was founded in 1999. Richardson translated sources from 12 ancient languages himself and drew on over a decade of research across four continents.

Judge and broadcaster Kirsty Lang called it 'blockbuster history' with 'page-turning narrative pull' and 'exceptional literary craft'.

The book traces Alexander from his accession at 20 to a near-bankrupt Macedonian kingdom through to his death in Babylon aged 32.

Richardson beat former prize winner Patrick Radden Keefe's 'London Falling', which had been among the shortlisted titles.