Jb priestley biography

J. B. Priestley

Writer, broadcaster and critic J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) may be best known for his "time plays", such as An Inspector Calls, for enduringly popular novels like The Good Companions and Angel Pavement and for his wartime broadcasts, the Postscripts. However, he also wrote essays, autobiography, social history and time theory. Priestley was active in politics, although never a member of any party, expressing his concerns (for instance about the nuclear arms race) through commentary and campaigning.

Born and brought up in Bradford, Priestley used his Yorkshire background in some of his finest works, such as Bright Day and When we are married. His connections with the city were later marked by the statue near Central Library and the naming of the J. B. Priestley Library at the University of Bradford, which he officially opened in 1975. The University awarded him the title of honorary Doctor of Letters in 1970, and he was awarded the freedom of the City of Bradford in 1973 and the Order of Merit in 1977.

Discover more about Priestley via our 100 Objects exhibition, which includes several sections on particularly interesting aspects of his life, works and ideas.

English writer (1894–1984)

For other people named similarly, see Priestley (disambiguation).

John Boynton PriestleyOM (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator.

His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in The Good Companions (1929), which first brought him to wide public notice. Many of his plays are structured around a time slip, and he went on to develop a new theory of time, with different dimensions that link past, present and future.

In 1940, he broadcast a series of short propaganda radio talks, which were credited with strengthening civilian morale during the Battle of Britain. In the following years his left-wing beliefs brought him into conflict with the government and influenced the development of the welfare state.

Early life

Priestley was born on 13 September 1894 at 34 Mannheim Road, Manningham, which he described as an "extremely respectable" suburb of Bradford. His father, Jonathan Priestley (1868–1924), was a headmaster. His mother, Emma (née Holt; 1865–1896), was a mill girl. She died when Priestley was just two years old and his father remarried four years later. Priestley was educated at Belle Vue Grammar S

BEGINNINGS

J.B.Priestley was born John Priestley on September 13th 1894 in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of a schoolmaster. His mother died when he was very young, and he was brought up by his stepmother.After leaving Belle Vue School when he was 16, he worked in a wool office. But, already determined to become a writer, he spent his hard earned money on buying books, and used his spare time trying different kinds of writing, including a regular unpaid column in a local periodical, the Bradford Pioneer. Samples of his early writing are kept in the Archive at the Special Collections of the J.B.Priestley Library at the University of Bradford. His first piece of professional writing was an article “Secrets of the Rag-Time King” which appeared in London Opinion on Dec 14th 1912.

WORLD WAR I

He volunteered for the army in September 1914 and served for five years in England and France.The only time he wrote about his experiences during the First World War was in MARGIN RELEASED, but some of his letters home from the army survive in the Archive, and these were amalgamated with extracts from the book in PRIESTLEY’S WARS, published by Great Northern Books in 2008. Apart from those letters, the only other writing from that period were some poems which he published privately, entitled THE CHAPMAN OF RHYMES, to ensure some writing would survive should he be killed in the trenches; he destroyed most copies when he returned home. He was invited to write a series of articles for the Yorkshire Observer, before going up to Trinity Hall Cambridge; ending the war as an officer, he qualified for a grant to go to university. He never lived permanently in Bradford again, though a frequent visitor.

EARLY WORK

He graduated in two years, but stayed on for the required third year, married his Bradford sweetheart and continued writing short pieces for local periodicals. These were collected in his first professional book, BRIEF DIVERSIONS, which was well noti

About J.B. Priestley: The Last Great Man of English Letters

John Priestley (he added Boynton later on) was born in Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 13 September 1894. His father, Jonathan, was a pioneering schoolmaster, his mother, Emma, had been a mill girl. Emma died when he was very young, but fortunately his stepmother, Amy, was very kind. Jack, as he was known to the family, enjoyed the rich cultural and social life of prosperous, cosmopolitan and relatively classless Bradford: music hall, football, classical music concerts and family gatherings. Many of his finest novels, plays and memoirs draw on his feelings about this vanished time, particularly “Bright Day” (1946), in which a disillusioned scriptwriter looks back at his golden Bradford adolescence, and “Lost Empires” (1965), recreating the 1913 variety theatre.

Priestley was educated at Belle Vue School, and then worked in a wool office in the Swan Arcade. His main interest by this time however was writing: his first publication was “Secrets of the Ragtime King” for London Opinion, then a series of articles, “Round the Hearth”, for Independent Labour Party publication, The Bradford Pioneer. When the Great War broke out, Priestley volunteered, joining the Duke of Wellington’s West Yorkshire Regiment. After a year of training in southern England, he was sent to the Front in 1915. In “Margin Released” (1962), he reflected on his hellish experiences and the loss of his friends. Seriously injured in June 1916, Priestley returned to England to convalesce, and then trained as an officer. Sent to the Front a second time in 1917, he was gassed and spent the rest of the War in administrative jobs. Although he never wrote in great detail about his war experience it haunted him all his life.

After the War, Priestley studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, thanks to a very small ex-officer’s grant. He excelled academically, but decided to make a career as a writer. With the exception