J. B. Priestley

Priestley grew up in Manningham, England. His mother died when he was two years old and, at the age of sixteen, he left school to work as a junior clerk at a wool firm. He served and was injured in World War I and then went to study at Trinity College. Priestley hosted a popular radio show, “Postscripts,” from the beginning of World War II until the show was cancelled in 1940 after members of the Conservative Party—including, it seems likely, Winston Churchill—complained about Priestley’s broadcasting his left-wing politics. He continued nevertheless to have a political presence in the UK: he and a group of friends founded the 1941 Committee, which advocated for a national wages policy and for railways, mines, and docks to come under public control; in 1942, he co-founded the Common Wealth Party, which sought to advance the causes of “Common Ownership,” “Vital Democracy” and “Morality in Politics.” Priestley wrote novels, plays, and newspaper articles throughout his life, including An Inspector Calls in 1945. He was married three times.