J. B. Priestley

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "J. B. Priestley" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

J. B. Priestley OM
J. B. Priestley at work in the study at his home in Highgate, London
Born	(1894-09-13)13 September 1894 Manningham, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	14 August 1984(1984-08-14) (aged 89) Alveston, Warwickshire, England
Occupation	Novelist playwright screenwriter broadcaster commentator
Period	20th century
Spouse	Pat Tempest ​ ​ (m. 1921; died 1925)​ Jane Wyndham-Lewis ​ ​ (m. 1925; div. 1953)​ Jacquetta Hawkes ​ (m. 1953)​
Children	5, including Sylvia, Mary and Tom
Website
jbpriestley.co.uk

John Boynton Priestley OM (/ˈpriːstli/; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator.^[1]

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.