John Boynton Priestley,
OMThe Order of Merit
is an order recognizing distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
(13 September 189414 August 1984) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
novelist,
playwrightA playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors...
and
broadcasterA presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
.
Early years
Priestley was born in what he described as an "ultra-respectable" suburb of
BradfordBradford is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
. His father was a headteacher; his mother died young; his father remarried 4 years later.On leaving
grammar schoolA grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally schools teaching classical languages but more recently academically-oriented types of secondary school.The original purpose of...
, Priestley worked in the
woolWool is a fibrous protein derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles. The wool is taken from animals in the Caprinae family, principally sheep, but the hair of certain species of other mammals including: goats, llamas, and rabbits may also be called wool...
trade of his native city, but had ambitions to become a writer. He was to draw on memories of Bradford in many of the works he wrote after he had moved south. As an old man he deplored the destruction by developers of
VictorianThe term Victorian architecture can refer to one of a number of architectural styles predominantly employed during the Victorian era. As with the latter, the period of building that it covers may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria after whom it is...
buildings such as the
Swan ArcadeThe Swan Arcade was a four-storey building located between Market Street and Broadway, Bradford, UK and stood opposite the Wool Exchange. The Bradford Beck ran beneath.- Architecture and history :...
in Bradford where he had his first job.
Priestley served during the
First World WarWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
in the 10th Battalion, the
Duke of Wellington's RegimentThe Duke of Wellington's Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division.In 1702 Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he did in and around the city of Gloucester. As was the custom in those days...
. He was wounded in 1916 by mortar fire. In his autobiography,
Margin Released he is fiercely critical of the British army and in particular of the officer class.
After his military service Priestley received a university education at
Trinity Hall, CambridgeTrinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
. By the age of 30 he had established a reputation as a humorous writer and critic. His novel
Benighted (1927) was adapted into the
James WhaleJames Whale was a British film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein , all recognized as classics of the genre...
film
The Old Dark HouseThe Old Dark House is a horror film directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, produced just one year after their success with Frankenstein. It is based on the 1927 novel Benighted by J. B. Priestley, published in the United States under the same title as the film, and was adapted for the...
(1932); the novel has been published under the film's name in the United States.
Career
Priestley's first major success came with a novel,
The Good CompanionsThe Good Companions is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley.Written in 1929 , it focuses on the trials and tribulations of a concert party in England between World War I and World War II. It is arguably Priestley's most famous novel, and the work which established him as a national figure...
(1929) which earned him the
James Tait Black Memorial PrizeFounded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for fiction and made him a national figure. His next novel
Angel PavementAngel Pavement is a novel by J. B. Priestley, published in 1930 after the enormous success of The Good Companions. It is often paired with An English Journey ....
(1930) further established him as a successful novelist. However, some critics were less than complimentary about his work, and Priestley began legal action against
Graham GreeneHenry Graham Greene OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
for what he took to be a defamatory portrait of him in the novel
Stamboul TrainStamboul Train is a novel by author Graham Greene. A thriller set on an Orient Express train, it was renamed Orient Express when it was published in the United States.-Plot introduction:...
(1932).
He wrote the travelogue
English JourneyEnglish Journey is a work of non-fiction by J.B. Priestley published in 1934.Commissioned by publisher Victor Gollancz to write a study of contemporary England, Priestley recounts his travels around England in 1933. He shares his observations on the social problems he witnesses, and appeals for...
in 1934, which is an account of what he saw and heard while travelling through the country in the autumn of the previous year.
He moved into a new genre and became as well known as a dramatist.
Dangerous CornerDangerous Corner is a stage play written by J. B. Priestley, first performed in 1932. Dangerous Corner is also a 1934 black-and-white film, based on the play.- Plot and subject matter:...
began a run of plays that enthralled
West End theatreWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
audiences. His best-known play is
An Inspector CallsAn Inspector Calls is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in 1945 and 1946 . It is considered to be one of Priestley's best known works for the stage and one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre...
(1946), later made into a film starring
Alastair SimAlastair Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who appeared in a string of classic British films. He is best remembered in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film Scrooge, and for his portrayal of Miss Fritton, the headmistress in two of the much-loved St. Trinian's films...
released in 1954. His plays are more varied in tone than the novels, several being influenced by
J. W. Dunne'sJohn William Dunne was an Irish aeronautical engineer and author. He established his career working on many early military aircraft. A soldier in the Boer War, Dunne worked on tailless designs in the early years of the 20th century, producing inherently stable aircraft...
theory of time, which plays a part in the plots of
Dangerous Corner (1932) and
Time and the ConwaysTime and the Conways is a British play written by J. B. Priestley in 1937 illustrating J. W. Dunne's Theory Of Time through the experience of a moneyed Yorkshire family, the Conways, over a period of nineteen years from 1919 to 1938...
(1937).
Many of his works have a socialist aspect. For example,
An Inspector Calls, as well as being a "Time Play", contains many references to
socialismSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
— the inspector was arguably an alter ego through which Priestley could express his views.
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was a regular broadcaster on the BBC. The
Postscript broadcast on Sunday night, through 1940 and again in 1941, drew peak audiences of 16 million; only Churchill was more popular with listeners. But his talks were cancelled. It was thought that this was the effect of complaints from Churchill that they were too left-wing; however, Priestley's son has recently revealed in a talk on the latest book being published about his father's life that it was in fact Churchill's Cabinet that brought about the cancellation by supplying negative reports on the broadcasts to Churchill.
Priestley chaired the
1941 CommitteeThe 1941 Committee was a group of British politicians, writers and other people of influence who got together in 1941. Its members comprised liberals, and those further left, who were not generally involved with a political party. Its immediate purpose was to press for more efficient production in...
and, in 1942, he was a co-founder of the socialist
Common Wealth PartyThe Common Wealth Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom in the Second World War. Thereafter, it continued in being, essentially as a pressure group, until 1993.- The war years :...
. The political content of his broadcasts and his hopes of a new and different England after the war influenced the politics of the period and helped the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
gain its landslide victory in the
1945 general electionThe United Kingdom General Election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks...
. Priestley himself, however, was distrustful of the state and dogma.
His interest in the problem of time led him to publish an extended essay in 1964 under the title of
Man and Time (Aldus published this as a companion to
Carl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology known as Jungian psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in the field of depth psychology and in countercultural movements across the globe...
's
Man and His SymbolsMan and His Symbols is the last psychological work undertaken by Carl Jung before his death in 1961. First published in 1964, it is divided into five parts, four of which are written by associates of Jung: Joseph L. Henderson, Marie-Louise von Franz, Aniela Jaffé, and Jolande Jacobi...
). In this book he explored in depth various theories and beliefs about time as well as his own research and unique conclusions, including an analysis of the phenomenon of
precognitive dreamingPrecognitive dreams are dreams that have been credited with foresight or precognition. It is a phenomenon that has fascinated and puzzled mankind for thousands of years. Precognition is typically defined as knowing or perceiving events before they actually occur...
, based in part on a broad sampling of experiences gathered from the British public who responded enthusiastically to a televised appeal he made while being interviewed in 1963 on the BBC programme,
Monitor. Priestley managed the treatment of this potentially esoteric subject matter with warmth and competence.
Although Priestley never wrote a formal book of memoirs, his literary reminiscences,
Margin Released, provide valuable insights into his work. The section dealing with his job as a teenage clerk in a Bradford wool-sorter's office manages to weave fine literature from an outwardly unpromising subject - a characteristic of many of his novels.
A special collector's edition of
Bright Day was re-issued by Great Northern Books in 2006, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the publication of this novel.
Plays
His play
The Thirty-first of June was first produced in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
in 1957.
- Thirty-first of June: A Tale of True Love, Enterprise and Progress in the Arthurian and AD-Atomic Ages, inspector calls
- - December 1961 : Hardback; ISBN 0-434-60326-0 / 978-0-434-60326-8 (UK edition); Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
- - BBC radio dramatization; one and a half hours
- - 1996 : Paperback; ISBN 0-7493-2281-0 / 978-0-7493-2281-6 (UK edition); Publisher: Mandarin
- - 31 iyunya (1978) (TV) Russian film; aka 31 июня; aka 31st of June
Personal life
Priestley was one of the interviewees for the documentary series
The World at War (1973), in the episode "Alone: May 1940–May 1941".
He was a founding member of the
Campaign for Nuclear DisarmamentThe Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an organization that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by Britain. It also campaigns for international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
in 1958. He declined lesser honours before accepting the
Order of MeritThe Order of Merit
is an order recognizing distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
in 1977.
He had a deep love of
classical musicClassical music is the mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times...
, and in 1941 he played an important part in organising and supporting a fund-raising campaign on behalf of the
London Philharmonic OrchestraThe London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, which was struggling to establish itself as a self-governing body after the withdrawal of Sir
Thomas BeechamSir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH was a British conductor and impresario. From the early twentieth century until his death, Beecham was a major influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to Neville Cardus, was the first British conductor to have a regular international career.From...
. In 1949 the
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
The OlympiansThe Olympians is an opera in three acts by Arthur Bliss to a libretto by J. B. Priestley, first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 29 September 1949, conducted by Karl Rankl in a production by Peter Brook....
by
Arthur BlissSir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was a British composer.-Birth, education and WWI:Born to an American father and English mother, Bliss attended Bilton Grange Preparatory School and Rugby before entering Cambridge University...
, to a libretto by Priestley, was premiered.
Priestley's name was on
Orwell's listOrwell's list, prepared in 1949, consisted of notable writers and other individuals by the English author George Orwell, shortly before he died. It comprises names of people he considered to be unsuitable as possible writers for the Information Research Department's anti-communist propaganda...
, a list of people which
George OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist...
prepared in March 1949 for the
Information Research DepartmentThe Information Research Department, founded in 1948 by Christopher Mayhew MP, was a department of the British Foreign Office set up to counter Russian propaganda and infiltration, particularly amongst the western labour movement....
, a propaganda unit set up at the Foreign Office by the Labour government. Orwell considered these people to have pro-communist leanings and therefore to be inappropriate to write for the IRD.
Priestley had three marriages. In 1921 he married Pat Tempest, and in 1922 two daughters were born. In September 1926, he married Jane Wyndham-Lewis (ex-wife of the original 'Beachcomber' Bevan Wyndham-Lewis, no relation to the artist); together, they produced two daughters and one son. In 1953, he divorced his second wife and married
Jacquetta HawkesJacquetta Hawkes was a British archaeologist.Born Jessie Jacquetta Hopkins, the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, she married first Christopher Hawkes, then an Assistant Keeper at the British Museum, in 1933. From 1953, she was married to J.B. Priestley...
, his collaborator on
Dragon's Mouth. The
University of BradfordThe University of Bradford is a university in Bradford, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. Formed from a technical college in 1966, there are three campuses: the main campus, located on Richmond Road, the School of Health, on Trinity Road, and the School of Management, at Emm Lane...
renamed their campus library to J.B. Priestley after his death in recognition of his work. .
See also
- J. W. Dunne
- CND
- An Experiment with Time
An Experiment with Time is a long essay by J. W. Dunne on the subjects of precognition and the human experience of time. First published in March 1927, it was very widely read, and his ideas promoted by several other authors, in particular by J. B. Priestley. Other books by J. W. Dunne are The...
- J. B. Priestley's Time Plays
- Time and the Conways
Time and the Conways is a British play written by J. B. Priestley in 1937 illustrating J. W. Dunne's Theory Of Time through the experience of a moneyed Yorkshire family, the Conways, over a period of nineteen years from 1919 to 1938...
External links