The Baron and The Garter Knight: literary rivals

During the 1960s, albeit not for long, Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Mr Harold Wilson were rivals across the despatch box.  In 1976, by which time they'd both become Premiers Emeritus, one Lord Home of the Hirsel, the other Sir Harold Wilson, they were rivals across the bookshelf.

That year, they both published books: Lord Home his memoirs, 'The Way the Wind Blows'; Sir Harold a book about the governance of Britain called 'The Governance of Britain'.  You can see the tomes below.

How did the rivals fare?

Well, according to a piece in The Times Diary dated 23 November, it was the former Earl who came off best.  It topped the non-fiction section of that week's Sunday Times' best-seller list.  In comparison, Sir Harold's work 'made a fleeting appearance at the lower end of the list for two weeks' and was no longer on it at all.

Furthermore, The Times Diary told us that Lord Home had, by that point, sold 27,000 copies (1,800 a week) while Sir Harold had sold 19,000 copies (800 a week) despite his book being published two weeks earlier than 'The Way The Wind Blows'.