#John Wheeler Bennett

[george-the-good]

Kenneth Rose on John W. Wheeler-Bennett’s biography of King George VI

I have managed to read the whole 900 pages of John Wheeler-Bennett’s life of George VI. It is not as great a book as Harold Nicolson’s life of George V, either in style (which is often banal) or in content. There is not enough about the King himself, particularly his private life, and far too much about the politics and foreign affairs of his reign, much of which I found pretty stale stuff. I would like to have known more about who were the King’s personal friends; whether he ever read a book; what he liked to eat and drink. John Wheeler-Bennett is a friend of mine, and so I am glad I shall not be reviewing the book.

- Kenneth Rose in a letter to his parents, 21 September 1958

Dinner at the Beefsteak. As all had read Wheeler-Bennett’s life of George VI, the talk turned almost entirely on the book. The general opinion is that W.-B. is an admirable historian but a poor biographer - not really very interested in a man’s personal character. Arthur Mann,¹ who saw a lot of the King, said how sorry he was to find so few examples of the King’s rather dry wit. He gave us one story I had never heard. When showing Mann his collection of foreign orders and decorations at Windsor one day, the Queen picked up a German Cross, weighed it in her hand, and remarked how light it was. ‘Yes,’ replied the King, ‘they had to be - as they never took them off!’

- Kenneth Rose in a letter to his parents, 28 September 1958

- Who’s In, Who’s Out: The Journals of Kenneth Rose

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1: Arthur Henry Mann (1876 – 1972) - British newspaper journalist