Introducing ‘An Inspector Calls’ and J.B. Priestley

• An Inspector Calls


  About society and class divides
• J.B. Priestly wrote An Inspector Calls


  1945
• Setting of the play An Inspector Calls

  1912
• In 1912, society wasn't equal - people with more money from a higher class had more power
• Priestley's purpose


  To get people to think about inequality in 1945
• Message of An Inspector Calls

  1. The audience knows the characters' world is going to go through terrible changes

  2. 1912 was just before the First World War - which began in 1914 and killed millions of people

  3. Priestley wrote An Inspector Calls to challenge his audience to think about how many more disasters lay ahead for them if they didn't learn from past mistakes
• The war years


  Affected J.B. Priestley's life and writing
• An Inspector Calls


  Written near the end of the Second World War, so the audience would have seen how war affected everyone
• Soldiers were returning from the war and hoping for a better life
• An Inspector Calls asks the audience to unite to improve society
• Born in Bradford


  1894
• Left school and started work as a clerk at a wool firm

  1910
• First World War. Priestley was wounded but survived

  1914-18
• Studied for degree in modern history and politics at Cambridge University

  1919-21
• Started work as a journalist in London


  1922
• Second World War starts

  1939
• Priestley presented a popular BBC radio programme, 'Postscripts', but his show was cancelled after members of the government decided Pristley's views were too left-wing (I.e. socialist)
• Priestley founded various socialist organisations


  1941-42
• Second World War ends

  1945
• Died, aged 89


  1984