J B Priestley

Papers from Lilliput J B Priestley

Some of these essays have appeared in THE LONDON MERCURY, THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, THE OUTLOOK, and THE CAMBRIDGE REVIEW. Others have been selected from a large number I contributed (week by week, under the pseudonym of 'Peter of Pomfret') to the YORKSHIRE OBSERVER. Others again are the first-fruits of a current series of such things I am contributing to THE CHALLENGE under the general title of 'New Papers from Lilliput.' I take this opportunity of thanking all the editors concerned for their hospitality to these not, I trust, too ill-favoured bantlings of mine, and hope that they will not regret it if they should now chance to renew the acquaintance. John Boynton Priestley, OM (13 September 1894 - 14 August 1984), was an English author, novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, social commentator, man of letters and broadcaster, whose career straddled the 20th Century. 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 talks that were credited with saving civilian morale during the Battle of Britain. His left-wing beliefs brought him into conflict with the government, but influenced the birth of the Welfare State.