Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson was city lecturer

A former Wolverhampton Polytechnic teacher has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his latest novel.

Howard Jacobson has picked up the literary prize and its £50,000 award for his comic novel The Finkler Question.

The 58-year-old said it was his four years in Wolverhampton in the 1980s that inspired him to write his first book Coming from Behind, a comedy about a failing polytechnic that tries to merge with a local football team. He was a 10/1 outsider with some bookmakers.

He once said the town was "dull and boring" but then some years later went on to say: "It seems to have improved quite a bit - probably because everywhere else has got worse.''

Coming From Behind included a scene about teaching in a football stadium. The University of Wolverhampton still has some classrooms at Molineux.

Jacobson had been longlisted for the prize twice previously, but had never before been shortlisted.

The writer and columnist, who has written 15 novels, said: "I have waited a long time. I don't think I have any right to suppose that I should have won the Booker Prize but I was wanting to win the Booker Prize from the start.

"I'm not alone in that. All writers feel that, it's such a fantastic prize to win."

The book tells the tale of two old schoolfriends and their teacher and deals with subjects including love, loss, male friendship and what it means to be Jewish.

Manchester-born Mr Jacobson, who admitted it was beginning to look like he would never win, said he was sick of being described as "under-rated".

He can now expect a huge increase in sales and recognition around the world. Last year's winner, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, sold half-a-million copies in the UK alone.

Mr Jacobson was educated at Cambridge University before spells teaching in Wolverhampton and Sydney, Australia.

He described the novel as the saddest he had written and said it had been affected by the deaths of several close friends.