John Boynton Priestley, British author born in Bradford in 1894, son of a school-master, educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and served in the F.W.W. After leaving Belle Vue High School, he spent some time as a junior clerk in a wool office. He joined the army in 1914 and after the war went to Cambridge. He went to London in 1922 where he soon made a reputation as an essayist and critic. He also wrote novels and plays. His major works are:

The Good Companions (1929)
Angel Pavement (1930)
The Dangerous Corner (1932) (as a playwright)
Time and the Conways (1937)
Johnson and Jordan (1939)
An Inspector Calls (1945)
When We Are Married (1938)
A Severed Head (1962, made a stage adaptation)
Literature and Western Men (1960) (as a literary critic)

Unit 5: A Lesson in Living (Part One)