J. B. Priestley

In 1934, JB Priestley published an account of his journey through England from Southampton to the Black Country, to the North East and Newcastle, to Norwich. In capturing and describing an English landscape and people hitherto unseen, he influenced the thinking and attitudes of an entire generation and helped formulate the formation of the welfare state.

A light-hearted novel which concentrates on a few weeks in the life of a village in England in the period leading up to a summer festival. Published to coincide with the festival of Britain in 1951.

Three unhappy characters, Jess Oakroyd, Miss Trant and Inigo Jollifant flee from their old lives to seek adventure on the open road. Fate brings them together and into the presence of a broken-down theatrical touring company. Throwing caution to the winds they save the group and set off on an unforgettable tour of the pavilions and provincial theatres of England.

Arthur Birling, a prosperous manufacturer, is holding a family dinner party to celebrate his daughter's engagement. Just when everything seems to be going well, they receive a surprise visit from an Inspector Goole who is investigating the suicide of a young girl. As the Inspector reveals more about the circumstances that led to the death of Eva Smith, each member of the family comes under the spotlight, and questions of guilt and responsibility are raised....

Most know JB Priestley as a writer, but it was his experiences of the Great War which informed much of his work. Though not intended as an autobiography, this is an absorbing personal account of a writer's professional self.

13 plays and dramatisations of the works of the influential playwright, novelist and essayist J. B. Priestley - plus bonus programmes J. B. Priestley was one of Britain's most significant writers. His output was prodigious: in his lifetime, he penned 26 novels, 39 plays and hundreds of essays. He enjoyed great success on stage, notably with Dangerous Corner, Time and the Conways and An Inspector Calls, which experimented with narrative structure and unorthodox theories of time. Included here are some of his most esteemed works, adapted for radio and brought together in one statement collection. We begin with Priestley's most famous play, An Inspector Calls, which sees Inspector Goole arriving unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home. Their celebratory dinner is shattered by his startling revelations about the death of a young woman. Next is Time and The Conways, telling the story of one family in several scenes set over 19 years, and When We Are Married, in which three couples receive a rude shock during their joint silver wedding party.

In I Have Been Here Before, a group of strangers who meet at a remote Yorkshire inn discover that they are all interdependent - have they met before? A happy gathering of friends discover that their relationships aren't what they seem in Dangerous Corner and, in Eden End, an elderly Yorkshire GP finds himself coming to the end of an era. The Linden Tree is set in England 1947, where rationing and austerity have fostered opportunism, escapism - and confrontation - within the Linden family. The Good Companions, J. B. Priestley's classic story of a 1929 concert party tour, is followed by The Demon King, in which a Boxing Day panto is set to be a flop - until the Demon King comes on. In Lost Empires, Richard Hemcastle leaves his dead-end job to join his Uncle Nick in the glamour of the music halls, while in Bright Day, a chance encounter prompts a disillusioned scriptwriter to rediscover his past*.* Extraordinary and magical things happen on one elusive day in The Thirty-First of June, and in The Grey Ones, a patient fears evil is at work in the shape of a sinister conspiracy. Will his psychiatrist be able to help?