Dorset singer songwriter PJ Harvey has made music history by becoming the first artist to win the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for a second time.

Polly Jean Harvey scooped the prize with her Let England Shake, inspired by conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The former Yeovil College student beat off competition from chart-topper Adele and Brit-winning Tinie Tempah to claim the £20,000 prize.

And the 41-year-old singer songwriter certainly wowed the audience at the awards ceremony at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, arriving in a full-length white dress with a white leather bodice shaped like a strait-jacket.

Receiving her prize, she said: “Thank you for the recognition of my work on this album.

“It’s also good to be here this evening. When I last won 10 years ago on September 11, 2001 I was watching the Pentagon burning from my hotel window.

“So much has happened since then. This album took me a long time to write. It was very important to me. I wanted to make something meaningful, not just for myself but for other people, and hopefully to make something that would last.”

She also praised fellow nominees and said winning the prize again had inspired her to continue doing her thing.