J.B. Priestley

Description

"J.B. Priestley, best known for "Time and the Conways" and "An Inspector Calls", was one of the twentieth century’s most prolific writers--a notable essayist, novelist, playwright, autobiographer, critic, journalist and broadcaster. Born in 1894 in Bradford, he served in the First World War before going to Trinity College, Cambridge, where his writing career began. After completing a number of novels, among them the bestselling "Good Companions" in the 1920s, his first stage play "Dangerous Corner" (1932) achieved instant acclaim. During the Second World War his famous broadcasts not only reflected the wartime mood of the British public but also raised morale. In the 1950s he worked as a delegate for UNESCO, and his article "Britain and the Nuclear Bomb" sparked off the formation of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. At this late stage in his life Priestley married his third wife, the archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes, with whom he found lasting happiness. After his death in 1984, his reputation declined, but today his works are once again enjoying critical and commercial success." --Back cover blurb. Front Cover ......Page 1 Title page: J.B. Priestley ......Page 4 Contents ......Page 8 Chronology ......Page 10 Family Tree ......Page 14 Preface ......Page 16 One. The Bradford Years ......Page 20 Two. War — Marriage — Tragedy ......Page 31 Three. Full-Time Writer — Second Marriage ......Page 44 Four. Jolly Jack ......Page 56 Five. The Dramatist ......Page 65 Six. Jane, Infidelity and Jacquetta ......Page 78 Seven. Postscripts — Family — Travelling ......Page 89 Eight. The 1970s and 1980s ......Page 100 Notes ......Page 104 Bibliography ......Page 106 Priestley’s Works ......Page 107 Pocket Biographies ......Page 112 Back Cover ......Page 114