J. B. (John Boynton) Priestley

Born in Bradford, England, in 1894, J. B. Priestley served in the First World War before studying at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He first built his reputation as an essayist and critic, then became a widely read novelist with The Good Companions and Angel Pavement.

He is especially remembered as a dramatist. Plays such as Dangerous Corner, Time and the Conways, and An Inspector Calls helped make him one of the best-known voices in 20th-century British theatre, often mixing gripping storytelling with questions about time, responsibility, and social justice.

Priestley was also a familiar public figure beyond books and plays. During the Second World War, his radio talks reached a huge audience, and throughout his long career he wrote essays, journalism, and memoir as well as fiction and drama. He died in 1984.