Arthur Bryant's biographical works are both an integral part and a reflection of his overall achievement as a historian. In subject matter there is an emphasis on the seventeenth century, the Napoleonic period, and military history. In approach there is a determination to combine scholarship and readability with a strongly moral attitude founded on traditional Christian values and firm patriotism. This has made him seem old-fashioned and the victim of some condescension from modern academic historians; but this is to ignore his enormous popularity among the reading public and his major achievement in explaining the importance of otherwise neglected or misunderstood personalities, notably King Charles II, Samuel Pepys, and Field Marshal Alanbrooke.

Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant was born on 18 February 1899 in a house on the royal estate of Sandringham. His father, Sir Francis Morgan Bryant, was chief clerk to the Prince of Wales, and when the prince was...