PLACE YOUR BETS
William Hill releases latest odds for Whitbread Book of the Year 2005

With the 35th Whitbread Book Awards only five days away, the latest odds from bookmakers William Hill have Whitbread Novel Award winner Ali Smith as odds-on favourite with her Man Booker shortlisted novel,  the accidental at 5-4.

The second favourite is Hilary Spurling with her masterful biography of Matisse, Matisse the Master at 5-2, followed closely by Christopher Logue, with the fifth instalment of his celebrated account of the Iliad, Cold Calls. The odds are 5-1 for Tash Aw’s debut novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, and 6-1 for Kate Thompson’s Whitbread Children’s Award winning The New Policeman.

Ali Smith, the accidental     5/4

Hilary Spurling, Matisse the Master   5/2

Christopher Logue, Cold Calls    4/1

Tash Aw, The Harmony Silk Factory   5/1

Kate Thompson, The New Policeman 6/1

Whitbread Group PLC created the Whitbread Book Awards in 1971 in order to celebrate the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland.  Since then, it has successfully developed into one of the foremost and most prestigious literary awards in the UK today.

The five Whitbread Book Award winners, each of whom will receive £5,000, were selected from 476 entries, the highest total ever received in one year.  The five books are now eligible for the ultimate prize – the 2005 Whitbread Book of the Year. 

The winner will be announced at The Brewery in central London on Tuesday 24th January 2006 by a panel of judges chaired by the author and former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo, MBE.

For more information:
 
For further press information or to arrange an interview with any of the winning authors,  please contact Amanda Johnson at Karen Earl Sponsorship on 0207 202 2837/07715 922 180 or [email protected].

Notes to Editors:
Whitbread  PLC  is the UK's leading hospitality company, managing market  leading  businesses  in the budget hotels, restaurant and health  &  fitness sectors, including Premier Travel Inn, Brewers
Fayre, Beefeater, Costa, T.G.I. Friday's and David Lloyd Leisure, and a strategic investment in Pizza Hut (UK).

Whitbread's  success  is  due to the skill and professionalism of its  50,000  people  who  serve  around 10 million customers each month  at  more  than  2,200  outlets  across the UK. Whitbread's
strategy  is  to  create  value  for our shareholders by focusing investment  and  growing  in expanding sectors of the hospitality industry,  primarily in the UK but also in selected international markets.

In  the  financial  year  to  March  3, 2005, Whitbread generated pre-tax,  pre-exceptional profit of £263.5m on sales of more than £2,111m.  Founded  in  1742,  the company is listed on the London
Stock Exchange (as WTB.L).