J. B. Priestley

In 1926, he married Jane Wyndham-Lewis, with whom he had two daughters and a son.

In 1953, he divorced Jane Wyndham-Lewis and married the archaeologist and writer Jacquetta Hawkes.

John Boynton Priestley was born in a suburb of Bradford, England. When he was just two-years-old, his mother passed away and four years later, his father remarried.

He studied at Belle Vue Grammar School, but dropped out of the institution at the age of 16 so that he could work as a junior clerk at ‘Helm & Co.’, a wool firm. He worked at the firm from 1910 to 1914, during which he also began writing short articles and got them published in local newspapers.

At the start of World War I, he enlisted in the army and served in the 10th Battalion, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. In 1916, he was severely wounded, experiences of which he wrote in ‘Margin Released’, his autobiography; which released much later.

After military service, he completed his university education at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and wrote his first novel, ‘Adam in Moonshine’, in 1927. This was followed by another novel next year titled, ‘Benighted’.

He achieved a breakthrough with the novel, ‘The Good Companions’ which he published in 1929. He earned the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize award for the novel and it immediately catapulted him to national success. The same year, he collaborated with Hugh Walpole and wrote ‘Farthing Hall.

In 1930, he wrote the novel, ‘Angel Pavement’, which further cemented his place among the literary elite. Other fiction this year included ‘The Town Major of Miraucourt’.

In 1932, he published ‘Stamboul Train’ and ‘Faraway’. The same year, he collaborated with Gerald Bullett and published ‘I’ll Tell You Everything’. Apart from writing novels and fiction, he also wrote his first play, ‘Dangerous Corner’.

In 1929, he published one of his best-known works, ‘The Good Companions’. The publication went on to receive a ‘James Tait Black Memorial Prize’ and was adapted twice for films. It became an instant hit as soon as it was published in Europe. Although it was not very well-regarded by critics, the readers loved the book and it also went to be adapted into a theatrical production in 1931.