Previous winners of the biography prize include Lytton Strachey, John Buchan, Lady Antonia Fraser and Quentin Bell.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Award for peasant poet biographer

Frances Hepburn lost her 23-year-old husband John Buchan in the tragedy.

BBC: Wreaths

The novelist John Buchan ("The 39 Steps") explained why in 1940.

WSJ: Novels Set in London | Dear Book Lover