Let's say you've done so well at the horse races lately that you want a new betting challenge; why not put money on who's going to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature, to be announced next Thursday?

Ladbrokes makes betting on the Nobel fun and easy. Will it be Cees Nooteboom or Jean Marie Gustav Le Clezio? Eeva Kilpi or Inger Christensen (not a good bet; Ladbrokes odds on Ingie are 25 to 1).

It matters not if you've never heard of these writers; the point is that their work has illuminated humanity. (By Scott Rose)