Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

I was amsued to see that the journalist Dominic Carman, who has just published an independent biography of the BNP leader Nick Griffin, is standing as the Lib Dem candidate against Mr Griffin in Barking.

Is this the first case of a biographer standing against the person they have written about? I can't think of any other examples.

Some years ago Dominic Carman wrote a brilliant biography of his late father, the famous QC George Carman. It was a warts-and-all book, which went into great detail about his father's amazing appetite for gambling and drink, and how it never seemed to affect his performance in court. I cited the book as one of my favourite biographies in The Week magazine.

George Carman once acted for the footballer George Best (who enjoyed similar vices, plus sex). One of the most memorable passages in the biography invoves Dominic at his prep school, where he could see his family home every day from the school playing field.

He and his fellow pupils spotted George Best's distinctive E-type Jag parked outside the house on several afternoons. Not because Best was in legal consultations with his dad, but because he was having sex with Mrs Carman.