John Boynton Priestley (September 13, 1894, Bradford, England - August 14, 1984, Stratford-upon-Avon) was an English writer and broadcaster.
Priestley was educated at Cambridge University, and by the age of thirty had established a reputation as a humorous writer and critic. His first major success came with a novel, The Good Companions (1929), but he became better known as a dramatist. Without doubt, his best-known play is An Inspector Calls (1946). His novel Angel Pavement (1930) further established him as a successful popular novelist, but his plays are more varied in tone, several being influenced by Brown's theory of time, which plays a part in the plots of Dangerous Corner (1932) and Time and the Conways (1937). He married the archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes, with whom he co-wrote some minor works.
During World War II he was a regular broadcaster on the BBC but his talks were cancelled as a result of complaints that they were too left wing. He chaired the 1941 Committee and, in 1942, he was a co-founder of the socialist Common Wealth Party.
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Last updated: 10-16-2005 13:40:19
