Editing J. B. Priestley

{{short description|English writer (1894–1984)}}
{{Other people|similarly|Priestley (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox writer
| image            = J B Priestley at work in his study, 1940. (7893553148).jpg
| caption          = Priestley at work in the study at his home in Highgate, London, 1940
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1894|9|13|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Manningham, Bradford|Manningham]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1984|8|14|1894|9|13|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Alveston, Warwickshire]], England
| occupation       = {{hlist|Novelist|playwright|screenwriter|broadcaster|commentator}}
| period           = [[20th century in literature|20th century]]
| genre            = 
| subject          = 
| movement         = 
| signature        = 
| website          = {{URL|jbpriestley.co.uk}}
| influences       = 
| influenced       = 
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OM}}
| spouse           = {{plain list|
* {{marriage|Pat Tempest|1921|1925|reason=d.}}
* {{marriage|Jane Wyndham-Lewis|1925|1953|reason=divorce}}
* {{marriage|[[Jacquetta Hawkes]]|1953}} }}
| children         = 5, including [[Sylvia Goaman|Sylvia]], [[Mary Priestley|Mary]] and [[Tom Priestley|Tom]]
}}
'''John Boynton Priestley''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OM}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|r|iː|s|t|l|i}}; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator.<ref>{{cite web|title=J B Priestley|url=https://www.bl.uk/people/j-b-priestley|access-date=13 May 2021|website=The British Library|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224202655/https://www.bl.uk/people/j-b-priestley|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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 in the United Kingdom|welfare state]].

== Early life ==
Priestley was born on 13 September 1894 at 34 Mannheim Road, [[Manningham, Bradford|Manningham]], which he described as an "extremely respectable" suburb of [[Bradford]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Judith|author-link=Judith Cook|title=Priestley|year=1997|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=0-7475-3508-6|page=5|chapter=Beginnings and Childhood}}</ref> His father, Jonathan Priestley (1868–1924), was a headmaster. His mother, Emma (''née'' Holt; 1865–1896), was a mill girl.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jbpriestleysociety.com/biography/|title=Biography|accessdate=11 September 2022}}</ref> She died when Priestley was just two years old and his father remarried four years later.<ref name="konkle">Lincoln Konkle, ''J. B. Priestley'', in British Playwrights, 1880–1956: A Research and Production Sourcebook, by William W. Demastes, Katherine E. Kelly; [[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]], 1996</ref> Priestley was educated at [[Belle Vue Boys' School|Belle Vue Grammar School]], which he left at 16 to work as a junior clerk at Helm & Co. in the [[Swan Arcade, Bradford|Swan Arcade]].

During his years at Helm & Co. (1910–1914) he started writing at night and had articles published in local and London newspapers. He was to draw on memories of Bradford in many of the works he wrote after he had moved south, including ''[[Bright Day]]'' and ''[[When We Are Married]]''. As an old man he deplored the destruction by developers of [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] buildings in Bradford such as the Swan Arcade, where he had his first job.

Priestley served in the [[British Army]] during the [[World War I|First World War]], volunteering for the [[Duke of Wellington's Regiment]] on 7 September 1914 and being posted to the [[10th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|10th Battalion]] in France as a [[Lance corporal|Lance-Corporal]] on 26 August 1915.

He was badly wounded in June 1916 when he was buried alive by a [[240 mm trench mortar|trench mortar]]. He spent many months in military hospitals and convalescent establishments. On 26 January 1918 he was commissioned as an officer in the [[Devonshire Regiment]] and posted back to France in the late summer. As he describes in his literary reminiscences, ''Margin Released'', he suffered from the effects of poison gas and then supervised German [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] before being demobilised in early 1919.

After his military service Priestley received a university education at [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]], where he was among the first cohort of students to study the newly founded English [[Tripos]]; transferring to History for Part II, he was awarded an [[British undergraduate degree classification|upper-second class degree]] in 1921.<ref name="grand old grumbler"/><ref>"University Intelligence", ''The Times'', 14 June 1920, p. 9.</ref><ref>"Cambridge Tripos Lists", ''The Times'', 20 June 1921, p. 14.</ref> By the age of 30 he had established a reputation as an essayist and critic. His novel ''[[Benighted (novel)|Benighted]]'' (1927) was adapted into the [[James Whale]] film ''[[The Old Dark House (1932 film)|The Old Dark House]]'' (1932); the novel was published under the film's name in the United States.

== Career ==
Priestley's first major success came with a novel, ''[[The Good Companions]]'' (1929), which earned him the [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction and made him a national figure. His next novel, ''[[Angel Pavement]]'' (1930), further established him as a successful novelist. However some critics were less than complimentary about his work and Priestley threatened legal action against [[Graham Greene]] for what he took to be a defamatory portrait of him in the novel ''[[Stamboul Train]]'' (1932).

In 1934, he published the travelogue ''[[English Journey]]'', an account of what he saw and heard while travelling through the country in the depths of the [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|Great Depression]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Marr | first=Andrew | author-link=Andrew Marr | title=A History of Modern Britain | year=2008 | page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernb0000marr/page/ xxii] | publisher=Macmillan | isbn=978-0-330-43983-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernb0000marr/page/ }}</ref>

Priestley is today seen as having a prejudice against the Irish,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/irish-butt-of-english-racism-for-more-than-eight-centuries-1342976.html|title=Irish butt of English racism for more than eight centuries|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=23 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="Fagge2011">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNpNtZAB0yoC&pg=PA29|title=The Vision of J.B. Priestley|date=15 December 2011|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4411-0480-9|pages=29–|first=Roger |last=Fagge}}</ref><ref name="Holmes2015">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cdq9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA149|title=John Bull's Island: Immigration and British Society, 1871–1971|date=16 October 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-38273-7|pages=149–|first=Colin |last=Holmes}}</ref> as is shown in ''English Journey'': "A great many speeches have been made and books written on the subject of what England has done to Ireland... I should be interested to hear a speech and read a book or two on the subject of what Ireland has done to England... if we do have an [[Irish Republic]] as our neighbour, and it is found possible to return her exiled citizens, what a grand clearance there will be in all the western ports, from the Clyde to Cardiff, what a fine exit of ignorance and dirt and drunkenness and disease."<ref>J. B. Priestley, ''English Journey'' (London: William Heinemann, 1934), pp. 248–9</ref>

He moved into a new genre and became equally well known as a [[dramatist]]. ''[[Dangerous Corner]]'' (1932) was the first of many plays that would enthral West End theatre audiences. His best-known play is ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'' (1945). His plays are more varied in tone than the novels, several being influenced by [[J. W. Dunne]]'s theory of time, which plays a part in the plots of ''Dangerous Corner'' (1932) and ''[[Time and the Conways]]''.

In 1940, Priestley wrote an essay for ''[[Horizon (British magazine)|Horizon]]'' magazine in which he criticised [[George Bernard Shaw]] for his support of [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]: "Shaw presumes that his friend Stalin has everything under control. Well, Stalin may have made special arrangements to see that Shaw comes to no harm, but the rest of us in Western Europe do not feel quite so sure of our fate, especially those of us who do not share Shaw's curious admiration for dictators."<ref>J. B. Priestley, "The War — And After", in ''Horizon'', January 1940. Reprinted in Andrew Sinclair, ''War Decade: An Anthology of the 1940s'', Hamish Hamilton, 1989. {{ISBN|0241125677}} (p. 19).</ref>

During the [[Second World War]] he was a regular broadcaster on the [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]]. The ''Postscript'', broadcast on Sunday night in 1940 and again in 1941, drew peak audiences of 16 million; only [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] was more popular with listeners. [[Graham Greene]] wrote that Priestley "became in the months after Dunkirk a leader second only in importance to Mr Churchill. And he gave us what our other leaders have always failed to give us—an ideology."<ref>Cited in {{cite book<!-- {{sfn|Addison|2011|p=}} --> |title=The Road To 1945: British Politics and the Second World War |last=Addison |first=Paul |publisher=Random House |year=2011|isbn=978-1-4464-2421-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2hit1s8B04C&q=priestley}}</ref> But his talks were cancelled.<ref>{{cite book|title=Revisiting the Welfare State |series=Introducing Social Policy |last=Page |first=Robert M. |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education (UK) |year=2007 |page=10 |isbn=978-0-335-23498-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Os5EBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA10}}</ref> It was thought that this was the effect of complaints from Churchill that they were too left-wing; however in 2015 Priestley's son said in a talk on the latest book being published about his father's life that it was in fact Churchill's Cabinet that brought about the cancellation by supplying negative reports on the broadcasts to Churchill.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/whats_on/event_detail.html?id=2545 |title=? |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915121708/http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/whats_on/event_detail.html?id=2545 |archive-date=15 September 2008 }}</ref><ref name="biography">{{cite news|title=Priestley war letters published |publisher= BBC News website |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7655113.stm |access-date=10 June 2008 | date=6 October 2008}}</ref>

Priestley chaired the [[1941 Committee]] and in 1942 he was a cofounder of the socialist [[Common Wealth Party]]. The political content of his broadcasts and his hopes of a new and different Britain after the war influenced the politics of the period and helped the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] gain its landslide victory in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]]. Priestley himself, however, was distrustful of the state and dogma, though he did stand for the [[Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)|Cambridge University]] constituency in 1945.

Priestley's name was on [[Orwell's list]], a list of people that George Orwell prepared in March 1949 for the [[Information Research Department]] (IRD), a propaganda unit set up at the [[Foreign Office]] by the Labour government. Orwell considered or suspected these people to have pro-communist leanings and therefore to be unsuitable to write for the IRD.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blair's babe Did love turn Orwell into a government stooge? |first=John |last=Ezard |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=21 June 2003 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jun/21/books.artsandhumanities |access-date=30 December 2008}}</ref>

Priestley was a founding member of the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] in 1958.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/jun/17/jb-priestley-memoir-insight-vanities-friendships|title=Life with JB Priestley, by the woman he trusted most of all|date=17 June 2018|website=The Guardian|accessdate= 15 October 2022}}</ref>

In 1960, Priestley published ''Literature and Western Man'', a 500-page survey of [[Western literature]] in all its genres from the second half of the 15th&nbsp;century to the middle of the 20th century. (The last author discussed was [[Thomas Wolfe]].)

In 1964 Priestly joined the ''Who Killed Kennedy Committee?'' set up by [[Bertrand Russell]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Bertrand |title=Autobiography |date=1998 |publisher=Routledge |page=707}}</ref>

His interest in the problem of time led him to publish an extended essay in 1964 under the title of ''Man and Time''. (Aldus published this as a companion to [[Carl Jung]]'s ''[[Man and His Symbols]]''.) In the book he explored in depth various theories and beliefs about time as well as his own research and unique conclusions, including an analysis of the phenomenon of [[precognitive dreams|precognitive dreaming]], based in part on a broad sampling of experiences gathered from the British public, who responded enthusiastically to a televised appeal he made while being interviewed in 1963 on the BBC programme ''[[Monitor (BBC TV)|Monitor]]''.

[[File:NMM Priestley 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Statue outside the [[National Science and Media Museum]] in [[Bradford]]]]
The [[University of Bradford]] awarded Priestley the title of honorary [[Doctor of Letters]] in 1970 and he was awarded the [[Freedom of the City]] of Bradford in 1973. His connections with the city were also marked by the naming of the J. B. Priestley Library at the University of Bradford, which he officially opened in 1975,<ref>[http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/collections/j-b-priestley-archive/ J. B. Priestley Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806101809/http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/collections/j-b-priestley-archive/ |date=6 August 2013 }}. University of Bradford. Retrieved 16 February 2016.</ref> and by the larger-than-life statue of him, commissioned by the [[Bradford City Council]] after his death and which now stands in front of the [[National Science and Media Museum]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2008/09/26/priestley_lost_city_reaction_feature.shtml A "sentimental journey"? Priestley's Lost City]. bbc.co.uk (26 September 2008). Retrieved 2 May 2012.</ref>

== Personal life ==
Priestley had a deep love for classical music, especially [[chamber music]]. This love is reflected in a number of Priestley's works, notably his own favourite novel, ''Bright Day'' (Heinemann, 1946). His book ''Trumpets Over the Sea'' is subtitled "a rambling and egotistical account of the London Symphony Orchestra's engagement at Daytona Beach, Florida, in July–August 1967".<ref>{{cite book|last=Fagge|first=Roger|title=The Vision of J.B. Priestley|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4411-6379-0|page=Note 9 to Chapter 6|no-pp=yes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_z5o6hPsNLsC&q=Priestley+Trumpets&pg=PT120}}</ref>

In 1941, he played an important part in organising and supporting a fund-raising campaign on behalf of the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]], which was struggling to establish itself as a self-governing body after the withdrawal of Sir [[Thomas Beecham]]. In 1949 the opera ''[[The Olympians]]'' by [[Arthur Bliss]], to a libretto by Priestley, was premiered.

Priestley snubbed the chance to become a [[life peer]] in 1965 and also declined appointment as a [[Companion of Honour]] in 1969.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Individuals, now deceased, who refused honours between 1951 and 1999|publisher=[[Cabinet Office]]|date=25 January 2012|url=https://update.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/document2012-01-24-075439.pdf|access-date=27 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120404180350/https%3A//update.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/document2012%2D01%2D24%2D075439.pdf|archive-date=4 April 2012}}</ref> But he did become a member of the [[Order of Merit]] in 1977. He also served as a British delegate to [[UNESCO]] conferences.

=== Marriages ===
[[File:In The Grove, Highgate - geograph.org.uk - 1834159.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[3, The Grove, Highgate]]]]
Priestley was married three times. He also had a number of affairs, including a serious relationship with the actress [[Peggy Ashcroft]]. Writing in 1972, Priestley described himself as "lusty" and as one who has "enjoyed the physical relations with the sexes{{nbsp}}[...] without the feelings of guilt which seems to disturb some of my distinguished colleagues".<ref name=":0">{{cite ODNB|title=Priestley, John Boynton (1894–1984), writer {{!}} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31565|year=2004}}</ref>

In 1921, Priestley married Emily "Pat" Tempest, a music-loving Bradford librarian. Two daughters were born: Barbara (later known as the architect Barbara Wykeham)<ref>{{cite news|title= Barbara Wykeham |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1521646/Barbara-Wykeham.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1521646/Barbara-Wykeham.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=15 August 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> in 1923 and Sylvia (a designer known as [[Sylvia Goaman]] following her marriage to [[Michael Goaman]])<ref>{{cite news|title= Sylvia Goaman |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1527258/Sylvia-Goaman.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1527258/Sylvia-Goaman.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=15 August 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> in 1924. In 1925, his wife died of cancer.<ref>[http://unitedagents.co.uk/jb-priestley-estate JB Priestley (estate)]. Unitedagents.co.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2012.</ref>

In September 1926, Priestley married Jane Wyndham-Lewis (ex-wife of the one-time '[[Beachcomber (pen name)|Beachcomber]]' columnist [[D. B. Wyndham-Lewis]], no relation to the artist [[Wyndham Lewis]]); they had two daughters (including music therapist [[Mary Priestley]], conceived in 1924 while Jane was still married to D. B. Wyndham-Lewis) and one son, the film editor [[Tom Priestley]].<ref name=":0" /> During the [[World War II|Second World War]] Jane ran several residential nurseries for evacuated mothers and their children, many of whom had come from poor districts.<ref>Women's Group on Public Welfare. ''The Neglected Child and His Family''. Oxford University Press: London, 1948, p. x.</ref> For much of their married life they lived at [[3, The Grove, Highgate|3, The Grove]] in [[Highgate]], formerly the home of the poet [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=John |title=Highgate: Its history since the Fifteenth Century |date=1983 |publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode |isbn=0-9503656-4-5}}</ref>

In 1953, Priestley was divorced by his second wife and then married the archaeologist and writer [[Jacquetta Hawkes]], with whom he collaborated on the play ''[[Dragon's Mouth (play)|Dragon's Mouth]]''.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|title= Biography |publisher= J. B. Priestley website |url= http://www.jbpriestley.co.uk/bio.php |access-date=28 July 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070702084801/http://www.jbpriestley.co.uk/bio.php |archive-date = 2 July 2007}}</ref> The couple lived at [[Alveston, Warwickshire]], near [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], later in his life.

[[File:St. Michael and All Angels Church, Hubberholme (12th February 2013) 004.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Priestley's ashes were buried in the churchyard of the [[Church of St Michael and All Angels, Hubberholme|Church of St Michael and All Angels]] in [[Hubberholme]] in the [[Yorkshire Dales National Park]].]]

=== Death ===
Priestley died of [[pneumonia]] on 14 August 1984, a month short of his ninetieth birthday.<ref name="grand old grumbler">{{cite news |last=Wainwright |first=Martin |date=16 August 2019 |title=JB Priestley, grand old grumbler, dies at 89 – archive, 1984 |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/aug/16/jb-priestley-grand-old-grumbler-dies-1984 |access-date=11 September 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> His ashes were buried in the churchyard of the [[Church of St Michael and All Angels, Hubberholme|Church of St Michael and All Angels]], [[Hubberholme]] at the head of [[Wharfedale]] in Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yorkshire-dales.com/hubberholme-church.html|title=Hubberholme Church|website=www.yorkshire-dales.co|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref> The exact location of his ashes has never been made public and is known only to the three people who were present for the burial.

A plaque in the church just states that his ashes are buried 'nearby'. Three photographs exist showing the ashes being interred, taken by Dr Brian Hoyle Thompson.  He and his wife were two of the three people present. The brass plate on the box containing the ashes reads ''J. B. Priestley'' and can be seen clearly in one of the pictures.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

== Archives ==
Priestley began placing his papers at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]] in 1960, with additions being made throughout his lifetime. The center has continued to add to the collection through gifts and purchases when possible. The collection comprises 23 boxes {{as of|2016|lc=y}}, including original manuscripts for many of his works and an extensive series of correspondence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01211|title=J. B. Priestley: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center|website=norman.hrc.utexas.edu|access-date=3 November 2017}}</ref>

The [[University of Bradford#Library|University of Bradford Library]] holds the J.&nbsp;B. Priestley Archive as part of their Special Collections. The collection includes scripts, journal articles, lectures, press cuttings, correspondence, photographs and objects such as Priestley's iconic pipe. Most of the material in this collection was donated by the Priestley Estate.<ref>{{cite web|title=J. B. Priestley Archive – Special Collections|url=https://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/collections/collections/j-b-priestley-archive/|access-date=13 October 2021|website=University of Bradford}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==

=== Novels ===
* ''Adam in Moonshine'' (1927)
* ''[[Benighted (novel)|Benighted]]'' (1927) (filmed as ''The Old Dark House'')
* ''[[The Good Companions]]'' (1929)
* ''[[Angel Pavement]]'' (1930)
* ''Faraway'' (1932)
* ''Wonder Hero'' (1933)
* ''Albert Goes Through'' (1933)
* ''They Walk in the City'' (1936)
* ''The Doomsday Men'' (1937)
* ''[[Let the People Sing (novel)|Let the People Sing]]'' (1939)
* ''[[Blackout in Gretley]]'' (1942)
* ''[[Daylight on Saturday]]'' (1943)
* ''Three Men in New Suits'' (1945)
* ''[[Bright Day]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Jenny Villiers]]'' (1947)
* ''[[Festival at Farbridge]]'' (1951)
* ''Low Notes on a High Level'' (1954)
* ''[[The Magicians (Priestley novel)|The Magicians]]'' (1954)
* ''Saturn over the Water'' (1961)
* ''The Thirty-First of June'' (1961)
* ''[[Salt Is Leaving]]'' (1961)
* ''[[The Shapes of Sleep]]'' (1962)
* ''Sir Michael and Sir George'' (1964)
* ''[[Lost Empires (novel)|Lost Empires]]'' (1965)
* ''[[It's an Old Country]]'' (1967)
* ''The Image Men Vol. 1: Out of Town'' (1968)
* ''The Image Men Vol. 2: London End'' (1968)
* ''[[Found, Lost, Found]]'' (1976)

=== Other fiction ===
* ''Farthing Hall'' (1929) (Novel written in collaboration with [[Hugh Walpole]])
* ''The Town Major of Miraucourt'' (1930) (Short story published in a limited edition of 525 copies)
* ''I'll Tell You Everything'' (1932) (Novel written in collaboration with [[Gerald Bullett]])
* ''[[The Other Place (Priestley)|The Other Place]]'' (1952) (Short Stories)
* ''Snoggle'' (1971) (Novel for children)
* ''The Carfitt Crisis'' (1975) (Two novellas and a short story)
;&nbsp;Novelizations by Ruth Mitchell (author of the wartime novel ''The Lost Generation'' and Priestley's sister-in-law by way of his second marriage):
* ''[[Dangerous Corner]]'' (1933), based on the later Broadway draft of the play, with a foreword by Priestley (paperback)
* ''[[Laburnum Grove]]'' (1936), based on the play and subsequent screenplay, published as a hardcover tie-in edition to the film

=== Selected plays ===
{{See also|J. B. Priestley's Time Plays}}
* ''[[The Good Companions (play)|The Good Companions]]'' (1931)
* ''[[Dangerous Corner]]'' (1932)
* ''[[Laburnum Grove (play)|Laburnum Grove]]'' (1933)
* ''[[Eden End]]'' (1934)
* ''Cornelius'' (1935)
* ''People at Sea'' (1936)
* ''[[Bees on the Boat Deck]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Time and the Conways]]'' (1937)
* ''[[I Have Been Here Before]]'' (1937)
* ''[[When We Are Married]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Johnson Over Jordan]]'' (1939)
* ''The Long Mirror'' (1940)
* ''[[They Came to a City (play)|They Came to a City]]'' (1943)
* ''Desert Highway'' (1944)
* ''[[How Are They at Home?]]'' (1944)
* ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'' (1945)
* ''[[Ever Since Paradise]]'' (1946)
* ''[[The Linden Tree]]'' (1947)
* ''[[Home Is Tomorrow]]'' (1948)
* ''[[Summer Day's Dream]]'' (1949)
* ''Mother's Day'' (1950)
* ''[[The White Countess (play)|The White Countess]]'' (1954)
* ''[[Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon]]'' (1955)
* ''[[The Glass Cage (play)|The Glass Cage]]'' (1957)
* ''The Thirty-first of June: A Tale of True Love, Enterprise and Progress in the Arthurian and AD-Atomic Ages''
** Novel. December 1961: hardback; {{ISBN|0-434-60326-0}} / {{ISBN|978-0-434-60326-8}} (UK edition); William Heinemann Ltd
** BBC radio dramatisation; one and a half hours
** Novel. 1996: paperback; {{ISBN|0-7493-2281-0}} / {{ISBN|978-0-7493-2281-6}} (UK edition); Mandarin
** ''[[31 June]]'' (1978) (TV) Soviet film
* ''Benighted'' (2016, adapted from his 1928 novel by Duncan Gates)
* ''The Roundabout'' (1931)

=== Films ===
* ''[[Sing As We Go]]'' (1934) (screenplay with [[Gordon Wellesley]])
* ''[[Look Up and Laugh]]'' (1935) (screenplay)
* ''[[We Live in Two Worlds]]'' (1937) (a documentary short subject, written and presented by Priestley)  
* ''[[Jamaica Inn (film)|Jamaica Inn]]'' (1939) (additional dialogue)
* ''[[Britain at Bay]]'' (1940) (a documentary short subject, written and presented by Priestley)  
* ''[[They Came to a City]]'' (1944) (screenplay with [[Basil Dearden]] and Sidney Cole, based on his play; Priestly also appears as the story's narrator)
* ''[[Last Holiday (1950 film)|Last Holiday]]'' (1950) (screenplay and producer)

=== Television work ===
* ''[[You Know What People Are]]'' (1955)
* ''[[Armchair Theatre]]: Now Let Him Go'' (ABC – 15 September 1957)
* ''Doomsday for Dyson'' (Granada – 10 March 1958)
* ''[[Out of the Unknown]]: Level Seven'' (BBC2 – 27 October 1966, adaptation of a story by [[Mordecai Roshwald]])
* ''[[The Wednesday Play]]: [[The Wednesday Play#Anyone for Tennis?|Anyone for Tennis?]]'' (BBC1 – 25 September 1968)
* ''[[Shadows (TV series)|Shadows]]: The Other Window'' (Thames – 15 October 1975, co-written with [[Jacquetta Hawkes]])
* ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'' (several versions including BBC – 2015)

=== Literary criticism ===
* ''The English Comic Characters'' (1925)
* ''The English Novel'' (1927)
* ''Literature and Western Man'' (1960)
* ''Charles Dickens and his world'' (1969)

=== Social and political works ===
* ''[[English Journey]]'' (1934)
* ''Out of the people'' (1941)
* ''The Secret Dream: an essay on Britain, America and Russia'' (1946)
* ''The Arts under Socialism'' (1947)
* ''The Prince of Pleasure and his Regency'' (1969)
* ''The Edwardians'' (1970)
* '' Victoria's Heyday'' (1972)
* ''The English'' (1973)
* ''A Visit to New Zealand'' (1974)

=== Autobiography and essays ===
* ''Essays of To-day and Yesterday'' (1926)
* ''Apes and Angels'' (1928)
* ''The Balconinny'' (1931)
* ''Midnight on the Desert'' (1937)
* ''Rain Upon Godshill: A Further Chapter of Autobiography'' (1939)
* ''Postscripts'' (1940)
* ''Delight'' (1949)
* ''Journey Down a Rainbow'' (co-authored with Jacquetta Hawkes, 1955
* ''Thoughts in the wilderness'' (1957) 
* ''Margin Released'' (1962)
* ''Man and Time'' (1964)
* ''The Moments and Other Pieces'' (1966)
* ''Over the Long High Wall'' (1972)
* ''The Happy Dream'' (Limited edition, 1976)
* ''Instead of the Trees'' (1977)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

'''Other sources'''
* [[Vincent Brome|Brome, Vincent]] (1988). ''J.B. Priestley.'' {{ISBN|0-241-12560-X}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070603075024/http://www.gnbooks.co.uk/books/1905080182.shtml Bright Day: A special collectors' edition, by J.B. Priestley]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Boynton Priestley |sopt=t}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|John Boynton Priestley}}
;Digital collections
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/j-b-priestley}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=45526}}

;Physical collections
* [http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01211 J. B. Priestley Papers] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* [https://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/collections/collections/j-b-priestley-archive/ J. B. Priestley Archive] at the [[University of Bradford]]
* [http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/people_sub_plays_all?forename=J%20b&amp;surname=PRIESTLEY&amp;job=Author&amp;pid=61&image_view=Yesamp;x=19amp;y=17 Priestley in the Theatre Collection], [[University of Bristol]]
* {{20th Century Press Archives|FID=pe/023779}}

;Biographical information
* [http://www.spartacus-educational.com/Jpriestley.htm J. B. Priestley biography] at [[Spartacus Educational]]
* {{ISFDB name|1261}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{LCAuth|n79116394|J. B. Priestley|338|ue}}

;Other links
* [https://jbpriestley.co.uk The Official J. B. Priestley website]
* [https://jbpriestleysociety.com The J. B. Priestley Society]
* [http://www.photohistories.com/Photo-Histories/53/john-angersons-english-journey ''John Angerson's English Journey''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804151622/http://www.photohistories.com/Photo-Histories/53/john-angersons-english-journey |date=4 August 2016 }}. Photographer Angerson retraces J.B. Priestley's footsteps 75 years after publication of Priestley's seminal travelog, ''English Journey''. Article by Graham Harrison for the Photo Histories web site.
* [https://www.britishpathe.com/video/personalities-j-b-priestley 1944 film of Priestley at work] at [[British Pathé]]
* {{cite book
 | last = Wolfe
 | first = Graham
 | title = Theatre-Fiction in Britain from Henry James to Doris Lessing: Writing in the Wings
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jQedDwAAQBAJ
 | publisher = Routledge
 | year = 2019
 |isbn=978-1-00-012436-1}}

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{{s-bef|before = ''New post''}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Common Wealth Party|Chairman of the Common Wealth Party]]|years = 1942}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Richard Acland]]}}
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{{J. B. Priestley}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Priestley, J. B.}}
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