Book of the week: The Lyrics by Paul McCartney
McCartney’s charming delve into his back catalogue is the ‘closest to an autobiography we’ll get’

Few monarchs have been as “discreet and inscrutable as George V”, said Ysenda Maxtone Graham in The Times. Britain’s king from 1910 to 1936 was a man who hid behind “many layers”: not only his nicotine-stained beard and thick Victorian frock coat, but also his “all-consuming, conversation-avoiding addiction to shooting and stamp collecting”.
His diaries, written up every night, chronicle the minutiae of his days – right down to the time he had breakfast – but give “no evidence of an inner life”. One characteristic entry reads: “I have got to go to London I regret today, on account of the political crisis & shall lose my day’s shooting at Six Mile Bottom”. You’d think such a man would make a hopeless subject – and yet against the odds, Jane Ridley’s biography succeeds in being “superbly un-dull”.
It achieves this by not concentrating excessively on its central subject, said Max Hastings in The Sunday Times. As monarch, George was witness to a “procession of extraordinary events”, from the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914 – which obliged him to “miss a planned pheasant-shooting date with the archduke” – to his “eldest son’s manic affair with Wallis Simpson”, which after his death led to the abdication crisis.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ridley devotes a sizeable portion of her book to such events, and also to George’s charismatic wife, Queen Mary, whose fondness for shopping led to her becoming known as the “kleptomaniac Queen”.
Ridley contends that George himself was not so much dull as ordinary, said A.N. Wilson in the TLS. And this proves to be a “revelatory distinction”. For it transforms what might have been the biography of a dullard into one “about innate, quiet decency surviving in an indecent, rowdy world”. The result is a “wonderful” book – the best royal biography I’ve read in decades.
Chatto & Windus 576pp £30; The Week Bookshop £23.99 (incl. p&p)
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
July 6 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include paying for school lunch by enlisting, and the banality of evil
-
5 biting editorial cartoons about 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Cartoons Artists take on dangerous green things, historical precedent, and more
-
A journey into the deep past on beautiful Arran
The Week Recommends New Unesco Global Geopark played a 'key role' in the birth of modern geological science
-
Jeff in Venice: a 'triumph of tackiness'?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
The Anatomy of Painting: Jenny Saville's 'stunning' retrospective
The Week Recommends Saville's new collection features 'masterpieces' from throughout her career
-
M3GAN 2.0: riotous action sequel to the comedy-horror hit about a killer doll
The Week Recommends A 'ridiculously' entertaining 'hyper-camp mash-up' of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible
-
Properties of the week: bright and cheerful houses
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, London and Norfolk
-
Shami Chakrabarti picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The politician and human rights activist shares the polemics that inspired her
-
6 sleek homes for modernists
Feature Featuring a concrete-and-steel home in South Carolina and a renovated 19th-century former carriage house in Pennsylvania
-
The Genius Myth: a 'fresh and unpretentious' book from Helen Lewis
The Week Recommends This 'angry, witty book' by Helen Lewis is a valuable critique of the 'flattering fiction' of genius
-
From Hilde, With Love – the 'moving' story of an accidental revolutionary
The Week Recommends Liv Lisa Fries gives a 'compelling' performance as the soft-spoken heroine.