Stephen Kelman’s first novel, the Booker-shortlisted Pigeon English (2011), was inspired by the manslaughter of Damilola Taylor, the ten-year-old Nigerian boy who bled to death in a Peckham stairwell after being attacked by two brothers aged twelve and thirteen. His second novel, Man on Fire, is again inspired by real events, this time the physical exploits of Kelman’s friend Bibhuti Nayak, a Mumbai journalist and extreme sportsman.

YouTube devotees may have seen Bibhuti setting the surreal record for

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