New writing success for Salman Rushdie

The bookshop trestle table clearly ain't big enough for the both of them. Novelist Salman Rushdie yesterday claimed to have broken wine writer Malcolm Gluck's record for book signings after adding his full name to 1,000 books on a tour to promote his latest novel.

"His record is toast," Rushdie crowed, in a letter to the Guardian.

Gluck started the controversy, questioning whether Rushdie could possibly have signed as many books as he had claimed, or whether he had just scribbled his initials.