Special person #3

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.

Born: July 26, 1856, Dublin, Ireland

Died: November 2, 1950

Education: Wesley College, Dublin

Books: The Black Girl in Search of God, The Perfect Wagnerite, More

Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature (1925), Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay (1938- Pygmalion), Academy Award for Screenplay

Ocuupation: Playwright, critic, political activist

Genres: Satire, black comedy

Literary movement: Ibsenism, naturalism

He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively. Shaw wanted to refuse his Nobel Prize outright because he had no desire for public honours, but accepted it at his wife's behest: she considered it a tribute to Ireland. He did reject the monetary award, requesting it be used to finance translation of fellow playwright August Strindberg's works from Swedish to English.