ABOUT GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
George Bernard Shaw was born in 1856 and lived to the grand age of 94. He was born in Dublin but moved to London at 20 years of age where he went through a process of self education. It was whilst in London that he established himself as a leading music and theatre critic and also became a leading member of the Fabian Society. He began his literary career in his thirties and his plays tended to follow a theme whereby the English stage would be criticised in some form. According to the Nobel Prize website, his plays displayed "Shaw's radical rationalism, his utter disregard of conventions, his keen dialectic interest and verbal wit..." A controversial figure at times, Shaw promoted eugenics and opposed vaccination and organised religion. Despite this, he's thought of fondly in the main and widely considered to be second only to Shakespeare in terms of Britain's best ever playwrights.
DID YOU KNOW?
Shaw used to be an estate agent and quickly rose through the ranks to become "head cashier". However, Shaw learnt that his mother - then living in London - was dying of tuberculosis and so he left his job, moved to London to be with her and took up writing.
