George Bernard Shaw July 26, 1856 - November 2, 1950 George Bernard Shaw was an Irish dramatist, a playwright, a socialist spokesman, a literary critic and a leading figure in the 20th century theater. He was born in Dublin. where he grew up in poverty. He educated himself by going to the library. Throughout his lifetime he had many causes which he believed in and supported, one such cause was woman's rights and equality of income. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He refused the money that went with the award, but did accepted the honour. Irish dramatist, literary critic, a socialist spokesman, and a leading figure in the 20th century theater. Shaw was a freethinker, defender of women's rights, and advocate of equality of income. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Shaw accepted the honour but refused the money."Just as the historian can teach no real history until he has cured his readers of the romantic delusion that the greatness of a queen consists in her being a pretty woman and having her head cut off, so the playwright of the first order can do nothing with his audience until he has cured them of looking at the stage through the keyhole, and sniffing round the theatre as prurient people sniff round the divorce court." (from G.B. Shaw's preface in Three Plays by Brieux, 1911) George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, where he grew up in something close to genteel poverty. "I am a typical Irishman; my family came from Yorkshire," Shaw once said. His father, George Carr Shaw, was in the wholesale grain trade. Lucinda Elisabeth (Gurly) Shaw, his mother, was the daughter of an impoverished landowner. She was 16-years younger than her ...
