Pinters criticism of US foreign policy and opposition to the war in Iraq tends to make him a revered yet controversial figures of the 21st century to ever be awarded this prize.

He is the author of more than 30 plays,and has supremely dominated the English literary scene for more than half a century.

However, Mr Jenkins does feel that the award has been given on artistic criteria alone. "His dramatic and literary achievement is head and shoulders above any other British writer. "He is far and away the most interesting, the best, the most powerful and most original of English playwrights."

The Nobel committee however does have a history of acknowledging writers who stand against common political notions and the face of power.

Previous winners include Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, outspoken German writer Guenter Grass and Wole Soyinka, a caustic critic of Nigeria's military regime.

Some feel that he was selected only because of his political agenda. There is the view that the Nobel literature prize often goes to someone whose political stance is found to be sympathetic at a given moment," said Alan Jenkins, deputy editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

"He was chosen to honour his entire body of work in the over 50-year span of his career," she told BBC news. Pinter would be acting in Samuel Beckett's play Krapp's Last Tape as part of the English Stage Company's 50th anniversary celebrations next year.

Ian Rickson, artistic director of London's Royal Court Theatre, has added his tributes Pinter's influence in world literature is extraordinary," he said. "His immersion in his art and his commitment to justice is immense."