Andrew Morton, biographer of the stars, on what the royals read
‘So many statesmen and politicians define an era, such as Winston Churchill.’
Over his long career, Andrew Morton has written biographies of Hollywood stars and British royals, most notably Princess Diana, who secretly worked on the bestseller “Diana: Her True Story” with the author. That collaboration was depicted in the fifth season of Netflix’s “The Crown,” making Morton one of the few — if not the only — biographers to be portrayed on screen. In his most recent biography, “The Queen,” Morton tackles the most royal of the royals, Queen Elizabeth.
BOOKS: What are you reading? MORTON: “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean about the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library. I’m so enjoying this book because it doesn’t follow the usual story arc: the fire, then the suspect and then the trial. She explains the nature of the library, which I found a very fresh idea. I think she did it very deftly.
BOOKS: What was the last great biography you read?
MORTON: Stacy Schiff ’s Samuel Adams book, “The Revolutionary.” I enjoyed the fact that she made much out of very little historical information. An awful lot of it was the product of her own informed imagination.
BOOKS: What will make you put a biography down?
MORTON: Most biographies explain the subject’s character by the childhood, and that’s the most boring bit. A good biographer will get you into the heart of the story and then shuttle back to the childhood or explain it through the adult life.
BOOKS: What draws you to biographies?
MORTON: It’s an interesting way of explaining history through personalities. So many statesmen and politicians define an era, such as Winston Churchill. I always liked Robert Rhodes James’s “Churchill: A Study in Failure.” Also “Winston Churchill: Struggle for Survival,” the diaries of Lord Moran, Churchill’s doctor. It was condemned at the time for breaching the doctor’s Hippocratic Oath but for someone who likes to read the inside story, it was unparalleled.
BOOKS: Is there a biography you wish
was better known?
MORTON: “The Cheese and I: An Englishman’s Voyage Through the Land of Fromage” by Matt Feroze. It’s by a guy who lived in a deadly place in England called Slough, who followed his dream to be the best cheesemaker in the world. It sold very few copies, but I thought it was a smashing little book.
BOOKS: Were you a biography reader before you became a biography writer?
MORTON: Very much so. When I was at university my parents gave me Richard Crossman’s diaries of his time as a cabinet minister in the 1960s. Curiously, the book that had the strongest effect on me was George Dangerfield’s “The Strange Death of Liberal England.” I read that in one sitting, which I rarely do. It was written with an insider verve and had the feel of someone sitting at a typewriter and writing it through the night. I’ve only read a couple of books that had that kind of pace. One was the mountaineer Joe Simpson’s “Touching the Void,” which is about an awful climbing accident in the Andes.
BOOKS: What biographies are on your to-read pile?
MORTON: I bought but have yet to open Sally Bedell Smith’s book about the marriage of
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The other book I’ve got is Lynne Olson’s “Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain During its Darkest, Finest Hour.”
BOOKS: How many books do you read at a time?
MORTON: Just one, but if I’m writing about Queen Elizabeth, for example, I’ll also be reading books about Princess Margaret or Prince Charles.
BOOKS: Who among the royals are avid readers?
MORTON: They are all pretty well anti-readers. Wallis Simpson read quite a lot, but mainly magazines. The Duke of Windsor, nothing. When Churchill gave the Duke one of his books, the Duke reportedly responded, “Thank you for your latest book. I’ll put it on the shelf with all the others.” Alan Bennett did a funny book, “The Uncommon Reader,” about what would happen if Queen Elizabeth became an avid reader. Every day she’s reading a new book. She’s going to the library. It causes consternation on Downing Street and in the red carpeted hallways of Windsor Castle. They are concerned she’s missing out on her duties and, at last, giving into pure pleasure.