Arthur Bryant Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant , CH , CBE ( 18 February 1899 – 22 January 1985 ) , was an English historian , columnist for the " Illustrated London News " and man of affairs . His books included studies of Samuel Pepys , accounts of English eighteenth - and nineteenth - century history , and a life of George V . Whilst his scholarly reputation has declined somewhat since his death , he continues to be read and to be the subject of detailed historical studies . He moved in high government circles and his books were devoured by the ruling elite ; he was the favourite historian of at least three prime ministers : Churchill , Attlee and Wilson . Bryant ' s historiography was often based on an English romantic exceptionalism drawn from his nostalgia for an idealized agrarian past . He hated modern commercial and financial capitalism , he emphasized duty over rights , and he equated democracy with the consent of " fools " and " knaves " . Early life . Arthur Bryant was the son of Sir Francis Morgan Bryant , who was the chief clerk to the Prince of Wales , and wife May . His father would later hold a number of offices in the royal secretariat , eventually becoming registrar of the Royal Victorian Order . Arthur grew up in a house bordering the Buckingham Palace gardens near the Royal Mews . There he developed a feel for the trappings of traditional British protocol and a strong attachment to the history of England . He attended school at Pelham House , Sandgate , and Harrow School . Though he expected to join the British Army , he won in 1916 a scholarship to Pembroke College , Cambridge . Despite that , he joined the Royal Flying Corps the following year , as a pilot officer . While there , he served in the first squadron to bomb the cities of the Rhineland in World War I . He was also for a time the only British subject formally attached to an American pilot unit , a unit which had been sent overseas for training . In 1919 he studied modern history at Queen ' s College , Oxford , obtaining distinction in the honours courses offered to ex - servicemen in 1920 . Early adult life . Bryant started work at a school operated by the London County Council , where he developed a strong sense of social justice and became convinced that education would be an effective way of uniting the people . This conviction led him to become a historian . Tall , dark , and attractive , he was popular at the debutante ball s he regularly attended , where he often persuaded his dancing partners to help him teach some of the less fortunate children at a children ' s library he had established in Dickens ' s old house in Somers Town , London . He became a barrister at the Inner Temple in 1923 , but left later that year to take the headmaster position of the Cambridge School of Arts , Crafts , and Technology , becoming the youngest headmaster in England . Altogether he proved remarkably successful in enrolling students , growing from three hundred to two thousand students in his three years there . During 1926 he married Sylvia Mary Shakerley , daughter of Walter Geoffrey Shakerley , the third Baronet Shakerley , and the following year became a lecturer in history for the Oxford University delegacy for extramural studies , a position he retained until 1936 . His marriage was dissolved in 1930 . He also served as an advisor at the Bonar Law College at Ashridge . His first book , " The Spirit of Conservatism " , appeared in 1929 and was written with his former students in mind . Historian . 1930s . In 1929 , after cataloging the Shakerley family library , he was asked by a friend in publishing to produce a new biography of Charles II of England . Yale Professor Frank W . Notestein suggested that he begin the work with Charles ' s escape following the Battle of Worcester , incorporating details of his earlier life into the narrative thereafter . This dramatic opening led the Book Society to chose it as their October 1931 selection , and it became a bestseller . Bryant ' s success with this volume encouraged him and he remained in that field . The book has been described as being both readable and informed by solid scholarship . He also regularly began producing . These included the Cambridge , Oxford , and Hyde Park pageants , and the Naval Night Pageant in Greenwich , which was attended by the King , Queen , Prince of Wales , British Cabinet , and members of the World Economic Conference . For the quality of his work in this field , he was acclaimed " the English Reinhardt " . He helped found the National Book Association , and its subsidiary , the Right Book Club , as an alternative to the Left Book Club . The new organization was not outstandingly successful , however , although it did publish several of his own writings . In January 1939 the National Book Club published a new English edition of Mein Kampf , for which Bryant wrote a foreword praising Hitler ( with reservations : he denounced Nazi persecution of Jews ) and comparing him to Benjamin Disraeli . His next book was a three - volume biography of Samuel Pepys , completed in 1938 and regarded as " one of the great historical biographies in the language " by John Kenyon . Almost three - quarters of a century after its publication it remains an important guide to Pepys ' s career . Bryant also was a frequent contributor to London papers and magazines , and scripted radio broadcasts relating to his historical interests , as well as radio plays for the BBC . He published a collection of scripts in his book " The National Character " . 1940s . " Unfinished Victory " was a book which Bryant had published in January 1940 ; it dealt with recent German history , and explained sympathetically how Germany had rebuilt herself after World War I . Bryant asserted that certain German Jews had benefited from the economic crises and controlled the national wealth , and although he criticised the destruction of Jewish shops and synagogues , he declared that the Third Reich might produce " a newer and happier Germany in the future " . Initially most reviewers received the book positively , but after the ' phoney war ' ended , public and elite opinion turned sharply against appeasement of any sort . Bryant realized his mistake and tried to buy up unsold copies . After the fall of France in 1940 , Bryant ' s writing celebrated British patriotism . His " English Saga " , published at the end of that year , described England as " an island fortress … fighting a war of redemption , not only for Europe but for her own soul " . Roberts says of his popular essays and books , " Bryant did a superb job in helping to stiffen the people ' s resolve by putting their sacrifices in historical context . " He married again , in 1941 , to Anne Elaine Brooke , daughter of Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke , one of the White Rajahs of Sarawak . His books during this decade dealt less prominently with the 17th century , and included a collection of Neville Chamberlain ' s speeches . His works during this period were well - received for their style and readability , although they also tended to be less well - researched , which has caused them to be questioned by younger historians . Several of these works , including " English Saga " ( 1940 ) , " The Years of Endurance 1793 – 1802 " ( 1942 ) , and " Years of Victory , 1802 – 1812 " , drew notable criticism , particularly for his preoccupation with comparing Napoleon and Hitler . The shortcomings of these works , possibly combined with their unusual popularity , helped ensure that he never received the highest academic honors . 1950s . His single major work in the decade was a two - volume collection of Alan Brooke , 1st Viscount Alanbrooke ' s diaries with additional commentary , " The Turn of the Tide " ( 1957 ) and " The Triumph in the West " ( 1959 ) . These books created substantial controversy , given their criticism of Churchill , who was then at the height of his popularity . They are still considered essential reading for understanding the British military during the war . Later years . The books he wrote during his later years included several volumes of broad English histories . They include " Set in a Silver Sea " ( 1984 ) , " Freedom ' s Own Island " ( 1986 , edited posthumously by John Kenyon , and a third volume . He retained a large readership and was guest - of - honour at the Conservative Monday Club ' s 1966 annual dinner . He spoke on " The Preservation of our National Character " . The dinner , at the Savoy Hotel , was sold out . During the 1960s Bryant was knighted and made a Companion of Honour . J . H . Plumb wrote , " both of his public honours , his Knighthood and his C . H . , were given to him by Harold Wilson , whose favourite historian he had long been . " His second marriage dissolved in 1976 . He died nine years later , and is buried in Salisbury Cathedral . Legacy . Bryant ' s total output was remarkable . He wrote over forty books overall , which collectively sold over two million copies . Most were published by William Collins , Sons and Co . Ltd . Also , in collaboration with W . P . Lipscomb , he wrote a play dramatizing Pepys ' life which ran for one hundred and fifty performances in London . He was a frequent lecturer , speaking at many of the leading cities and schools in Great Britain , as well as in the United States and fourteen European countries . His public speeches included the 1935 Alfred Watson lectures sponsored by the Sulgrave Manor Trust . These lectures , on American history , literature , and biography , were later collected into the book " The American Ideal " . In 1936 , Bryant took over G . K . Chesterton ' s " Our Note Book " column for the " Illustrated London News " . ( Bryant paid tribute to Chesterton in his introduction to Chesterton ' s posthumously - published essay collection " The Glass Walking - Stick " . ) He continued writing this column until his death , which occurred almost half a century after Chesterton ' s . Overall , Bryant produced about 2 . 7 million words for that magazine . Controversy . Andrew Roberts claims that Bryant ' s work on Samuel Pepys gave insufficient credit to the scholarly work of Joseph Robson Tanner ( 1860 – 1931 ) . J . H . Plumb gives this account of how G . M . Trevelyan passed Tanner ' s notes to Bryant : Roberts also claimed that Bryant remained in indirect contact with the Nazis in early 1940 , after the outbreak of World War II , and that these ties had been requested by the Foreign Secretary . Comparing his pre - World War II support of appeasement and admiration of Nazi Germany with his patriotic writings after the war began , Julian T . Jackson wrote that Although professionals historians were frequently negative about his best - sellers , Bryant ' s histories were explicitly praised by prime ministers Baldwin , Chamberlain , Churchill , Attlee , Macmillan , Wilson , Callaghan and Thatcher . Critical reception . J . H . Plumb , one of Bryant ' s detractors , wrote : Plumb ' s verdict is that Bryant killed off ' patrician history ' : Plumb cites Trevelyan ' s possible heirs as Wedgwood and A . L . Rowse . Another detractor is the British historian Andrew Roberts , who gave this , his personal verdict : Roberts ' s polemical essay , prompted by the opening of archive material on Bryant , has been followed ( and rebutted ) by Julia Stapleton ' s full academic study . Bryant ' s first biographer was Pamela Street , a neighbour of his in Salisbury , who on occasion had collaborated with Bryant in his historical works , and who was a daughter of farmer - author A . G . Street . Her book appeared during Bryant ' s lifetime .