Posted on: July 21, 2024
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JB Priestley Society’s 25th Anniversary Lunch
Posted on: October 3, 2022
JB Priestley Society’s 25th Anniversary Lunch
Sunday, 30th October, 2022
The Bradford Club
Society Council Meeting 11.30 am for 11.45 am start until 12.45 pm.
Chair Lindsay Sutton will welcome members, and announce future plans and aspirations.
Three-course set lunch menu (vegetarian option available) and coffee/tea for £25 from 1 pm until 2/2.15 pm.
A talk and readings between 2.15 pm and 3.15 pm.
If you wish to attend please inform Lorraine Howarth no later than Sunday 23 October. Attendees to pay for the cost of the lunch direct to The Bradford Club on the day.
Location plus directions:
The Bradford Club is at 1, Piece Hall Yard, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD1 1PJ.
Close to Waterstones book shop in the old Wool Exchange, just opposite the £2-a-day parking in the Broadway Shopping Centre. Near Forster Square Railway Station, and not far from Bradford Interchange, for buses and trains. We hope this will be a great occasion to meet up in person, to celebrate 25 years as a Society, and to make a new start.
Regards,
Lindsay Sutton (Chair), Rod Slater (Secretary) and Lorraine Howarth (Mailchimp/ Newsletter editor)
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Priestley at Bradford Literature Festival
June 11, 2022
Steve Abbott, John Baxendale, Bill Lawrence, Lindsay Sutton J B Priestley in Hollywood Bradford-born novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley is well-known as the writer behind An Inspector Calls, yet his contribution to the golden age of cinema is often overlooked. Much of his work is uncredited and is still being unearthed, for example The Princess Comes Across
J B Priestley in Hollywood
Bradford-born novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley is well-known as the writer behind An Inspector Calls, yet his contribution to the golden age of cinema is often overlooked. Much of his work is uncredited and and is still being unearthed, for example The Princess Comes Across. His first credit is The Old Dark House, (screening at the Festival) from his novella Benighted.
To unreel this under-documented history is a star cast – esteemed Bradfordian Steve Abbott – producer of Brassed Off, A Fish called Wanda, and Michael Palin’s TV travel programmes; Bill Lawrence, former Head of Film at the National Science and Media Museum; and historian and JBP author John Baxendale. They will look at Priestley’s complicated relationship with Hollywood – one that spans unacknowledged screenwriter credits, his apparent conflicted feelings about working in mainstream cinema, and the iconic stars he might have rubbed shoulders with along the way.
How did these opportunities come about, and what did Hollywood see in one of Yorkshire’s most prolific writers? In this celebration of Priestley’s influence and legacy, we aim to find out.
More details at the Bradford Literature Festival website and book tickets online
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Deliverance with Tom Priestley
February 18, 2020
Sunday 26 April at 3pm Regent Street Cinema J B Priestley Society presents
Preceded by a talk with editor Tom Priestley and followed by a Q&A
USA 1972 104 mins cert 18 Director: John Boorman Cast: Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty Film Editing Tom Priestley
Preceded by a talk with editor Tom Priestley and followed by a Q&A
USA 1972 104 mins cert 18
Director: John Boorman
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty
Film Editing Tom Priestley
This screening of the classic and controversial 1970s film Deliverance comes with an added bonus – a personal appearance by renowned film editor Tom Priestley, the only son of iconic author and playwright J B Priestley.
A gripping, notorious American thriller set in the isolated Deep South Appalachian Mountains sees four city-dwelling friends go on an adventure canoe trip, their experience turning into a battle for survival at the hands of the antagonistic locals.
In a half-hour, pre-film presentation, Tom will reveal his insight into the filming and editing of Deliverance, which starred Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty. Tom’s list of edits range from This Sporting Life to 1984, from The Great Gatsby to Return of the Pink Panther, from Exorcist II to Lord of the Flies. Tom, who handles the J B Priestley Estate, and who is President of the J B Priestley Society, will talk about his technique of film editing, his criteria for accepting a commission, and his distinguished career.
Tom’s early achievements began with the celebrated Whistle Down The Wind, starring a young Hayley Mills, with Tom cutting his teeth as assistant film editor. In 1965, he was sound editor on Dr Who and the Daleks, and he won a BAFTA award a year later with Morgan – a Suitable Case For Treatment. Although he read Classics and English at Cambridge, he never wanted to follow his father as an author, playwright, script writer and broadcaster. ‘JB,’ as he is affectionately known, is perhaps most famous for An Inspector Calls, The Good Companions, When We Are Married, Angel Pavement and English Journey. Tom spent much of his time at university watching films in the local cinema. In velvet jacket and corduroy hat, he cut a bohemian figure, going on to cut film by hand when he worked at Ealing Studios in the pre-digital era. On location with Deliverance in rural Georgia, he claimed that he felt at home with the Appalachian hillbillies, while the Californian film crew “were terrified.”
A question and answer session will follow the screening, with Lindsay Sutton in the chair.
Lindsay Sutton – chair of the J B Priestley Society – says: “The Society thought Tom’s presence would give the film audience real added value. Like his father, he has made his mark, but in a different medium. Film editing is often the forgotten or overlooked component in the making of great films. Tom is a top-class professional, who was in demand for all of his working life. He has authority, knowledge and charm.”
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The Good Companions (1957)
October 30, 2019
Sunday 24 November at 1:15pm Square Chapel, Halifax Starring Jeanette Scott, John Fraser, Eric Portman, Celia Johnson With an introduction and a small exhibition curated by the JB Priestley Society Adapted from J.B. Priestley’s famous novel charting the ups and downs of a struggling touring concert party, this endearing musical comedy features an outstanding array of
Sunday 24 November at 1:15pm
Square Chapel, Halifax
Starring Jeanette Scott, John Fraser, Eric Portman, Celia Johnson
With an introduction and a small exhibition curated by the JB Priestley Society
Adapted from J.B. Priestley’s famous novel charting the ups and downs of a struggling touring concert party, this endearing musical comedy features an outstanding array of British talent — including Halifax born Eric Portman.
The future looks bleak for The ‘Dinky Doos’ when their manager runs off with the funds and dwindling audiences force the theatre owner to close their show. Young Susie Dean is particularly disconsolate: the talented singer and dancer is sure the setback will mean an end to her theatrical career. However, a chance meeting of three strangers could bring about a big change in the fortunes of the little company…
Tickets can be bought from Square Chapel (01422 349422)
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The J.B. Priestley Society’s Open One-day Conference
March 7, 2019
J.B. PRIESTLEY: EXPERIMENTAL DRAMATIST At the International Anthony Burgess Foundation The Engine House, Chorlton Mill, Cambridge Street, Manchester Saturday 6 April 2019, 10.00-16.30 (Tea and coffee available from 09.30) The keynote conference lecture will be given by the internationally-renowned author on modern spirituality Anthony Peake, whose most recent book Time and the Rose Garden discusses …
J.B. PRIESTLEY: EXPERIMENTAL DRAMATIST
At the International Anthony Burgess Foundation
The Engine House, Chorlton Mill, Cambridge Street, Manchester
Saturday 6 April 2019, 10.00-16.30
(Tea and coffee available from 09.30)
The keynote conference lecture will be given by the internationally-renowned author on modern spirituality Anthony Peake, whose most recent book Time and the Rose Garden discusses previously unpublished Priestley writing on time and humanity. John Baxendale will then explore Priestley’s experimental drama in relation to his ‘broadbrow’ ethos, linking popular and elite culture.
There will be detailed reassessments of three of Priestley’s boldest dramatic experiments of the Thirties: from Michael Nelson on Time and the Conways, from Lee Hanson on Johnson over Jordan and from Ken Smith on Music at Night. Tony and Jenny Reavill will present dramatized readings from, and commentary on, the Jungian ‘platform play’ Dragon’s Mouth, co-authored by Priestley and his wife Jacquetta Hawkes.
Book Your Place
Either send a cheque made out to the J B Priestley Society to: Andrew Greathead. Hon Treasurer, J B Priestley Society, 81 Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham B28 0AA or book online through Eventbrite.
Open to all who are interested, with ample discussion time throughout.
Conference fee: £18 for J B Priestley Society Members, £25 for non-members. (Price includes tea and coffee: sandwich/soup/snack lunches can be purchased from the IABF Café on the day.
Venue is seven minutes walk from Oxford Road Station. Turn left from the station approach along Whitworth Street, cross Great Marlborough Street, and turn left again on Gloucester Street which, curving under the railway bridge, turns into Cambridge Street. Chorlton Mill is on your left with the IABF sign prominent at the far end).
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J.B. Priestley : the Other Stratford Writer 28/04/19
March 7, 2019
At the Stratford Playhouse 12.30 – 1.30pm Rosalie Batten’s book ‘Priestley at Kissing Tree House’ is an evocative account of her times as Priestley’s secretary in the house near Stratford. Her daughter Sophie Fyson will be joined by Broadcaster and writer Barry Cryer, and JBP Society Chair Lee Hanson for this fascinating discussion and insights …
At the Stratford Playhouse 12.30 – 1.30pm
Rosalie Batten’s book ‘Priestley at Kissing Tree House’ is an evocative account of her times as Priestley’s secretary in the house near Stratford.
Her daughter Sophie Fyson will be joined by Broadcaster and writer Barry Cryer, and JBP Society Chair Lee Hanson for this fascinating discussion and insights about a great writer.
This event is part of the Stratford Literary Festival details and tickets are online, see their website.
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J.B. Priestley Society AGM 2019
The Society’s AGM took place on the 3 March 2019. Former MP and JBP Society member Austin Mitchell gave a talk ‘Priestley and The People in Wartime’. Austin has engrossed himself in the Priestley wartime broadcasts and provided some new insights into the political dynamics of the time and in particular Churchills views of JBP’s …
The Society’s AGM took place on the 3 March 2019.
Former MP and JBP Society member Austin Mitchell gave a talk ‘Priestley and The People in Wartime’.
Austin has engrossed himself in the Priestley wartime broadcasts and provided some new insights into the political dynamics of the time and in particular Churchills views of JBP’s influence on the populous.
It is hoped to publish Austin’s monograph later in the year.
The Following are the Society’s Officers:
Lee Hanson : Chair
Rod Slater : Secretary
Treasurer : Andrew Greathead
Tony Reavill : Membership Secretary
Roger Statham : Information Officer and Newsletter Editor
Other Council Members: Michael Nelson, Ken Smith, Jenny Reavill, Ann Nelson, Lindsay Sutton, John Baxendale, Bill Lawrence Janice Slater, Trevor Johnson, Lorraine Howarth, and Wendy Statham.
