Brief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams
()
About this ebook
J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley was born in Bradford in 1894. He fought in the First World War and was badly wounded in 1916. He went on to study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and, from the late 1920s, established himself as a successful novelist, playwright, essayist, social commentator and radio broadcaster. He is best known for his 1945 play, An Inspector Calls. J. B. Priestley died in 1984.
Read more from J. B. Priestley
Benighted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grumbling at Large: Selected Essays of J.B. Priestley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaturn Over the Water Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Salt is Leaving Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Magicians Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good Companions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPapers from Lilliput Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Brief Diversions
Related ebooks
The Desert of Wheat Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Telegraph Boy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shadows On The Grass Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stand Up, Ye Dead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bone Clocks – 101 Amazing Facts You Didn’t Know Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Praise of Folly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSorrell and Son Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRudyard Kipling Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Path to Rome Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Lev Golinkin's A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Charles Dickens Christmas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quentin Durward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barrack Room Ballads Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Myles Before Myles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Diet of Treacle: The Classic Crime Library, #11 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArrowsmith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Patient Has the Floor: Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlood of the Wicked Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough of Sorrow: The Jill Emerson Novels, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfessions of a Carp Fisher Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tales by Polish Authors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thirty-Nine Steps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Napoleon of Notting Hill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Young Lion Hunter by Zane Grey - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove in the Artic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sacred and Profane Love: A Novel in Three Episodes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Virginian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reference For You
The Everything Sign Language Book: American Sign Language Made Easy... All new photos! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51001 First Lines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bored Games: 100+ In-Person and Online Games to Keep Everyone Entertained Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emotion Thesaurus (Second Edition): A Writer's Guide to Character Expression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learn Sign Language in a Hurry: Grasp the Basics of American Sign Language Quickly and Easily Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlining Your Novel Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises for Planning Your Best Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robert's Rules For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Show, Don't Tell: How to Write Vivid Descriptions, Handle Backstory, and Describe Your Characters’ Emotions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51,001 Facts that Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Essential Spanish Book: All You Need to Learn Spanish in No Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Useless Sexual Trivia: Tastefully Prurient Facts About Everyone's Favorite Subject Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legal Words You Should Know: Over 1,000 Essential Terms to Understand Contracts, Wills, and the Legal System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THE EMOTIONAL WOUND THESAURUS: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Art 101: From Vincent van Gogh to Andy Warhol, Key People, Ideas, and Moments in the History of Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mythology 101: From Gods and Goddesses to Monsters and Mortals, Your Guide to Ancient Mythology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Brief Diversions
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Brief Diversions - J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley
Brief Diversions: Being Tales, Travesties and Epigrams
Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4057664591029
Table of Contents
TALES
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EVERYONE
A MOVING STORY OF REAL LIFE
THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF A QUARREL BETWEEN A MAN WE ALL KNOW AND A VERY OLD FAMILY
AT THE ‘RED LION,’ RAMPLE STREET
THE DANGER OF ACCEPTING GIFTS WHILE HOLDING MUNICIPAL OFFICE
THE HUMILIATING EXPERIENCE OF A FORGOTTEN GOD
HOW THE RATIONAL AMUSEMENTS OF THE GREAT ARE LIMITED
THE IMPRUDENCE OF A POLITICIAN IN TRAVELLING FURTHER THAN THE NEWSPAPERS
THE WRONG WORLD
THE VALUE OF A NEW POINT OF VIEW
THE UNINVITED GUEST
HOW I MET WITH A FAMOUS CHARACTER IN A CAFÉ
THE MUTINY
DEATH AND THE FIDDLER
THE COLLEGE OF IMMORTAL FAME
THE LONELY SOUL
THE LOST PATH
THE LAST GLIMPSE OF A WELL-KNOWN FIGURE IN SOCIETY
ADVANCED THOUGHT AND THE FOOLISH IDLER
THE WONDERFUL VIEW
THE ROOM OF LOST SOULS
THE CYNICISM OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHIES
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD GOVERNMENT
THE MORAL
TRAVESTIES
A SONG IN THE MANNER OF MR WALTER DE LA MARE
‘Æ’: THE INEFFABLE SPLENDOUR OF THINGUMBOB
SIR WM WATSON: ON RECEIVING AN ÉDITION-DE-LUXE OF ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
PROFESSOR SAINTSBURY: FROM THE HISTORY OF THE THREE BLIND MICE (PERIODS OF EUROPEAN NONSENSE)
MR JAMES STEPHENS: ‘SEUMAS BEG AGAIN’
A LECTURE NOT YET WRITTEN OR DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR SIR A. T. QUILLER-COUCH: ON THE DIRECT METHOD
LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI: NEW STYLE. AS IT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE WRITTEN BY MR LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE
THE LATER MANNER OF MR W. B. YEATS
A SONG: NOT IN THE COLLECTED POEMS OF MR ALFRED NOYES
FROM A GREAT POLITICAL-BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA, ‘BUBB BODINGTON’ NOT YET WRITTEN BY MR JOHN DRINKWATER
AN EPILOGUE TO ‘TRIVIA’ (With apologies to Mr Logan Pearsall Smith)
EPIGRAMS
TALES
Table of Contents
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EVERYONE
Table of Contents
A PROFITEER, a Priest of Nebt-het, from Heliopolis, and a Fool were walking together one day, when they met the grim figure of War belching flame and fury.
‘Who is that?’ asked the fool and the priest of each other, quickening their pace. But the profiteer raised his hat, bowed humbly, and stayed to chat for a few moments with the terrible figure, before rejoining his companions.
Presently, they came upon Death, mumbling to himself by the roadside. The fool and the profiteer raised their eyebrows, and passed on, but the priest of Nebt-het touched his forehead and made certain strange signs with his hands, to which Death replied in like manner.
Then the three spied a beautiful woman who sat among the wildflowers. It was Love, combing her hair and singing all the love-songs