I never read the life of any important person without discovering that he knew more and could do more than I could ever hope to know or do in half a dozen lifetimes.

a wool firm in the Swan Arcade. He moved into a new genre and became equally well known as a dramatist. Many of his works have a socialist aspect.

His output included literary and social criticism. John Boynton Priestley OM (13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) known as J. He publiJ. B. Priestleyd 26 novels notably The Good Companions (1929) as well as numerous dramas such as An Inspector Calls (1945).