January 19, 1987

Irish writer Christopher Nolan wins Whitbread Book of the Year. At age 22, Nolan (1965 – 2009), who was unable to speak or move any part of his body except for his head and eyes, won one of the literary world’s most prestigious awards for his book Under the Eye of the Clock. His condition, an after-effect of asphyxiation at birth, left him only able to communicate by moving his head and eyes. A prolific writer in spite of this, Nolan published his first collection of poetry, Dam Bust of Dreams, at age 15. He published a critically acclaimed novel, The Banyan Tree, in 1999.