Richard Ollard, Pepys: a biography . London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1991. Pp. 411, £25. ISBN 1-85619-0668

Biographers of Samuel Pepys (1633- 1703) tend to emphasize the fact that there was much more to his life than the famous Diary , which he abandoned in his 33rd year. Great trials in the time of the Popish Plot, great connections with the King and the Duke of York (later King James II), great office as Secretary of the Admiralty, and the finest parts of his life’s work were yet before him. As part of it, he would certainly have included his Presidency of the Royal Society, though most of what we know of Pepys and the Society comes from the Diary . He was elected F.R.S. on 15 February 1665, and was President from 30 November 1684 until 30 November 1686.