17 DECEMBER 1983, Page 53

A. L. Rowse

The best and the most enjoyable books I have read this year have been King George V by Kenneth Rose (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Owen Chadwick's Hensley Hen- son (OUP) and William Cooper's Scenes from Married Life (Methuen).

I have not read any bad books, except one superfluous historical work devoted to lunatic Ranters' writings of the 17th cen- tury, though if I read much contemporary verse I should no doubt find a great deal positively bad.