Ian McEwan: Now congenial to the Booker

He pipped Beryl Bainbridge - the bookmakers' favourite - to the prestigious award with his novel about a sex scandal involving a Cabinet minister.

Mr McEwan, who had been shortlisted twice before, told the audience at the Guildhall: "I feel as if I'm dreaming, as I'm sure all winners before me have felt too."

Bainbridge favourite

Beryl Bainbridge: Bookies' favourite to win

Ms Bainbridge had been shortlisted four times without winning and led this year's field with her novel Master Georgie.

Both William Hill and Ladbrokes had rated her novel 6/4 favourite among the six-strong shortlist.

Ms Bainbridge said afterwards: "It would have been nice, but I am not gutted.

"It would have been nice for my publisher, my editor and my family."

Background to the Booker Prize 1998

Magnus Mills was another unsuccessful contender - his debut novel The Restraint of Beasts was written in between shifts driving a London bus.

The other nominees were Julian Barnes' England, England, Martin Booth's The Industry Of Souls and Patrick McCabe's Breakfast On Pluto.

Bonus in book sales

The real bonus for Mr McEwan will now be in book sales.

Last year's winner, Arundhati Roy, saw sales of The God Of Small Things soar, pushing it to the top of the bestseller lists for months.

The winner was picked by a team of judges led by former Foreign Secretary Lord Hurd.

They read 125 novels in making their decision.

McEwan, 50, has been a prominent figure on Britain's literary scene since the 1970s, when his macabre short stories of deviant sex and under-age crime in First Love, Last Rites and Between The Sheets caused a stir.

Although previously nominated for The Comfort of Strangers in 1981, and Black Dog in 1992, his highly-praised novels The Child In Time, The Innocent and last year's Enduring Love missed out.