It is a biography that a close if scholarly aide could have written - anecdotal and precise, loving and empirically reliable, all at the same time.

The king's physician and aide, Carl Gustav Carus, wrote in his journal:

Neither the songwriter nor his aide (who are not related) writes the music.

And the aide wrote.

Asked if the Congressman had considered hiring someone to check for listening devices, the aide wrote in the reporter's notebook, "We're going to this weekend."

Politicians, or their aides, write speeches.

"I admire your strength and courage," wrote a Congressional aide in Washington.

Legislative aides write drafts of possible items.

Sherman's aide, Jacob C. Donaldson, later wrote, "the situation was bad, almost desperate".

Then a spokeswoman said the aide had written the entry itself, based on a few ideas from the candidate.