Editing George Bernard Shaw (section)

==Life==
===Early years===
[[File:Dublin Portobello 33 Synge Street George Bernard Shaw Birthplace 2.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=Exterior of modest city house|Shaw's birthplace (2012 photograph). The plaque reads "Bernard Shaw, author of many plays, was born in this house, 26 July 1856".]]
Shaw was born at 3 Upper Synge Street{{refn|Now (2016) known as 33 Synge Street.{{sfn|Peters|1996|p=5}}|group=n}} in [[Portobello, Dublin|Portobello]], a lower-middle-class part of [[Dublin]].{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}} He was the youngest child and only son of George Carr Shaw and Lucinda Elizabeth (Bessie) Shaw (''née'' Gurly). His elder siblings were Lucinda (Lucy) Frances and Elinor Agnes. The Shaw family was of [[Anglo-Irish people|English descent]] and belonged to the dominant [[Protestant Ascendancy]] in Ireland;{{refn|Shaw's biographer [[Michael Holroyd]] records that in 1689 Captain William Shaw fought for [[William III of England|William III]] at the [[Battle of the Boyne]], for which service he was granted a substantial estate in [[Kilkenny]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=2}}|group=n}} George Carr Shaw, an ineffectual alcoholic, was among the family's less successful members.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=2}} His relatives secured him a [[sinecure]] in the civil service, from which he was pensioned off in the early 1850s; thereafter he worked irregularly as a corn merchant.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}} In 1852 he married Bessie Gurly; in the view of Shaw's biographer [[Michael Holroyd]] she married to escape a tyrannical great-aunt.{{sfn|Shaw|1969|p=22}} If, as Holroyd and others surmise, George's motives were mercenary, then he was disappointed, as Bessie brought him little of her family's money.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=5–6}} She came to despise her ineffectual and often drunken husband, with whom she shared what their son later described as a life of "shabby-genteel poverty".{{sfn|Shaw|1969|p=22}}

By the time of Shaw's birth his mother had become close to George John Lee, a flamboyant figure well known in Dublin's musical circles. Shaw retained a lifelong obsession that Lee might have been his biological father;{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} there is no consensus among [[wikt:Shavian|Shavian]] scholars on the likelihood of this.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=13–14}}{{sfn|Rosset|1964|pp=105 and 129}}{{sfn|Dervin|1975|p=56}}{{sfn|O'Donovan|1965|p=108}} The young Shaw suffered no harshness from his mother, but he later recalled that her indifference and lack of affection hurt him deeply.{{sfn|Bosch|1984|pp=115–117}} He found solace in the music that abounded in the house. Lee was a conductor and teacher of singing; Bessie had a fine [[mezzo-soprano]] voice and was much influenced by Lee's unorthodox method of vocal production. The Shaws' house was often filled with music, with frequent gatherings of singers and players.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}}

In 1862 Lee and the Shaws agreed to share a house, No. 1 Hatch Street, in an affluent part of Dublin, and a country cottage on [[Dalkey Hill]], overlooking [[Killiney Bay]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=27–28}} Shaw, a sensitive boy, found the less salubrious parts of Dublin shocking and distressing, and was happier at the cottage. Lee's students often gave him books, which the young Shaw read avidly;{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=23–24}} thus, as well as gaining a thorough musical knowledge of choral and operatic works, he became familiar with a wide spectrum of literature.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=24 (literature) and 25 (music)}}

Between 1865 and 1871 Shaw attended four schools, all of which he hated.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=19–21}}{{refn|The four schools were the [[Wesley College (Dublin)|Wesleyan Connexional School]], run by the [[Methodist Church in Ireland]]; a private school near [[Dalkey]]; Dublin Central Model Boys' School; and the Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=19–21}}|group=n}} His experiences as a schoolboy left him disillusioned with formal education: "Schools and schoolmasters", he later wrote, were "prisons and turnkeys in which children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning their parents."{{sfn|Shaw|1949|pp=89–90}} In October 1871 he left school to become a junior clerk in a Dublin firm of [[land agent]]s, where he worked hard, and quickly rose to become head cashier.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} During this period, Shaw was known as "George Shaw"; after 1876, he dropped the "George" and styled himself "Bernard Shaw".{{refn|Shaw's loathing of the name George began in his childhood.{{sfn|Nothorcot|1964|p=3}} He never succeeded in persuading his mother and sister to stop calling him by the name, but he made it known that everyone else who had any respect for his wishes should refrain from using it—"I hate being George-d".{{sfn|Nothorcot|1964|pp=3–4 and 9}}|group=n}}

In June 1873 Lee left Dublin for London and never returned. A fortnight later, Bessie followed him; the two girls joined her.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}}{{refn|By Shaw's account, Lee left Ireland because he had outgrown the musical possibilities of Dublin; in fact, Lee had overreached himself by trying to oust [[Robert Prescott Stewart|Sir Robert Stewart]] as the city's leading conductor. Stewart, professor of music at [[Trinity College Dublin|Trinity College]], denounced him as a charlatan, and succeeded in driving him out.{{sfn|O'Donovan|1965|p=75}}|group=n}} Shaw's explanation of why his mother followed Lee was that without the latter's financial contribution the joint household had to be broken up.{{sfn|Westrup|1966|p=58}} Left in Dublin with his father, Shaw compensated for the absence of music in the house by teaching himself to play the piano.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}}

===London===
Early in 1876 Shaw learned from his mother that Agnes was dying of [[tuberculosis]]. He resigned from the land agents, and in March travelled to England to join his mother and Lucy at Agnes's funeral. He never again lived in Ireland, and did not visit it for twenty-nine years.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}}

[[File:Bernard-Shaw-1879.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=young man with faint, wispy beard|Shaw in 1879]]

Initially, Shaw refused to seek clerical employment in London. His mother allowed him to live free of charge in her house in [[South Kensington]], but he nevertheless needed an income. He had abandoned a teenage ambition to become a painter, and had not yet thought of writing for a living, but Lee found a little work for him, [[ghost-writing]] a musical column printed under Lee's name in a satirical weekly, ''The Hornet''.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}} Lee's relations with Bessie deteriorated after their move to London.{{refn|Shaw attributed the breach to Bessie's disillusion when Lee abandoned his distinctive teaching methods to pursue a cynically commercial exploitation of gullible pupils; others, including Holroyd, have suggested that Bessie was resentful that Lee's affections were turning elsewhere, not least to her daughter Lucy.{{sfn|Westrup|1966|p=58}}{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=40–41}}|group=n}} Shaw maintained contact with Lee, who found him work as a rehearsal pianist and occasional singer.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=40–41}}{{refn|Shaw had a passable [[baritone]] voice,{{sfn|Pharand|2000|p=24}} though he admitted that he was far outclassed as a singer by his sister Lucy, who had a career as a [[soprano]] with the [[Carl Rosa Opera Company|Carl Rosa]] and [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company|D'Oyly Carte]] opera companies.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=25 and 68}}{{sfn|Rollins and Witts 1962|pp=54–55 and 58}}|group=n}}

Eventually Shaw was driven to applying for office jobs. In the interim he secured a reader's pass for the [[British Museum]] Reading Room (the forerunner of the [[British Library]]) and spent most weekdays there, reading and writing.{{sfn|Laurence|1976|p=8}} His first attempt at drama, begun in 1878, was a [[blank-verse]] satirical piece on a religious theme. It was abandoned unfinished, as was his first try at a novel. His first completed novel, ''Immaturity'' (1879), was too grim to appeal to publishers and did not appear until the 1930s.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} He was employed briefly by the newly formed Edison Telephone Company in 1879–80 and, as in Dublin, achieved rapid promotion. Nonetheless, when the [[National Telephone Company|Edison firm merged]] with the rival Bell Telephone Company, Shaw chose not to seek a place in the new organisation.{{sfn|Peters|1996|pp=56–57}} Thereafter he pursued a full-time career as an author.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=48}}

For the next four years Shaw made a negligible income from writing, and was subsidised by his mother.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=48–49}} In 1881, for the sake of economy, and increasingly as a matter of principle, he became a [[vegetarian]].{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} In the same year he suffered an attack of [[smallpox]]; eventually he grew a beard to hide the resultant facial scar.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=55–56}}{{refn|Vegetarianism and the luxuriant beard were among the things with which Shaw became associated by the general public. He was also a [[teetotaller]] and non-smoker, and was known for his habitual costume of unfashionable woollen clothes, made for him by [[Jaeger (clothing)|Jaeger]].{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}}{{sfn|Peters|1996|pp= 102–103}}{{sfn|Pearce|1997|p=127}}|group=n}} In rapid succession he wrote two more novels: ''The Irrational Knot'' (1880) and ''Love Among the Artists'' (1881), but neither found a publisher; each was [[Serial (literature)|serialised]] a few years later in the socialist magazine ''Our Corner''.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|p=120}}{{refn|''The Irrational Knot'' was eventually published in book form by Constable, in 1905;{{sfn|Rodenbeck|1969|p=67}} ''Love Among the Artists'' was first published as a book in 1900, by H. S. Stone of Chicago.{{sfn|''Love Among the Artists'': WorldCat}}|group=n}}

In 1880 Shaw began attending meetings of the Zetetical Society, whose objective was to "search for truth in all matters affecting the interests of the human race".{{sfn|Bevir|2011|p=155}} Here he met [[Sidney Webb]], a junior civil servant who, like Shaw, was busy educating himself. Despite difference of style and temperament, the two quickly recognised qualities in each other and developed a lifelong friendship. Shaw later reflected: "You knew everything that I didn't know and I knew everything you didn't know&nbsp;... We had everything to learn from one another and brains enough to do it".{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=172–173}}

[[File:William Archer.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Victorian photograph of man in early middle age, with centre-parted hair and a walrus moustache|[[William Archer (critic)|William Archer]], colleague and benefactor of Shaw]]

Shaw's next attempt at drama was a one-act playlet in French, ''Un Petit Drame'', written in 1884 but not published in his lifetime.{{sfn|Pharand|2000|p=6}} In the same year the critic [[William Archer (critic)|William Archer]] suggested a collaboration, with a plot by Archer and dialogue by Shaw.{{sfn|Adams|1971|p=64}} The project foundered, but Shaw returned to the draft as the basis of ''[[Widowers' Houses]]'' in 1892,{{sfn|Yde|2013|p=46}} and the connection with Archer proved of immense value to Shaw's career.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=79}}

===Political awakening: Marxism, socialism, Fabian Society===
On 5 September 1882 Shaw attended a meeting at the Memorial Hall, [[Farringdon, London|Farringdon]], addressed by the political economist [[Henry George]].{{sfn|Pearson|1964|p=68}} Shaw then read George's book ''[[Progress and Poverty]]'', which awakened his interest in economics.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=127–128}} He began attending meetings of the [[Social Democratic Federation]] (SDF), where he discovered the writings of [[Karl Marx]], and thereafter spent much of 1883 reading ''[[Das Kapital]]''. He was not impressed by the SDF's founder, [[H. M. Hyndman]], whom he found autocratic, ill-tempered and lacking leadership qualities. Shaw doubted the ability of the SDF to harness the working classes into an effective radical movement and did not join it—he preferred, he said, to work with his intellectual equals.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=129–131}}

After reading a tract, ''Why Are The Many Poor?'', issued by the recently formed [[Fabian Society]],{{refn|The Fabian Society was founded in January 1884 as a splinter group from the [[Fellowship of the New Life]], a society of ethical [[History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom|socialists]] founded in 1883 by [[Thomas Davidson (philosopher)|Thomas Davidson]].{{sfn|Diniejko|2013}}|group=n}} Shaw went to the society's next advertised meeting, on 16 May 1884.{{sfn|Cole|1961|pp=7–8}} He became a member in September,{{sfn|Cole|1961|pp=7–8}} and before the year's end had provided the society with its first manifesto, published as Fabian Tract No. 2.{{sfn|Fabian Tracts: 1884–1901}} He joined the society's executive committee in January 1885, and later that year recruited Webb and also [[Annie Besant]], a fine orator.{{sfn|Cole|1961|pp=7–8}}

{{quote box|width=300px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=left|quote= "The most striking result of our present system of farming out the national Land and capital to private individuals has been the division of society into hostile classes, with large appetites and no dinners at one extreme, and large dinners and no appetites at the other"|salign = left|source= Shaw, Fabian Tract No. 2: ''A Manifesto'' (1884).{{sfn|Shaw: ''A Manifesto'' 1884}}}}

From 1885 to 1889 Shaw attended the fortnightly meetings of the [[Royal Economic Society|British Economic Association]]; it was, Holroyd observes, "the closest Shaw had ever come to university education". This experience changed his political ideas; he moved away from Marxism and became an apostle of [[Gradualism#Politics and society|gradualism]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=178–180}} When in 1886–87 the Fabians debated whether to embrace [[anarchism]], as advocated by [[Charlotte Wilson]], Besant and others, Shaw joined the majority in rejecting this approach.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=178–180}} After a rally in [[Trafalgar Square]] addressed by Besant was violently broken up by the authorities on 13 November 1887 ([[Bloody Sunday (1887)|"Bloody Sunday"]]), Shaw became convinced of the folly of attempting to challenge police power.{{sfn|Pelling|1965|p=50}} Thereafter he largely accepted the principle of "permeation" as advocated by Webb: the notion whereby socialism could best be achieved by infiltration of people and ideas into existing political parties.{{sfn|Preece|2011|p=53}}

Throughout the 1880s the Fabian Society remained small, its message of moderation frequently unheard among more strident voices.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=182–183}} Its profile was raised in 1889 with the publication of ''Fabian Essays in Socialism'', edited by Shaw who also provided two of the essays. The second of these, "Transition", details the case for gradualism and permeation, asserting that "the necessity for cautious and gradual change must be obvious to everyone".{{sfn|Shaw: ''Fabian Essays in Socialism'' 1889|pp=182–183}} In 1890 Shaw produced Tract No. 13, ''What Socialism Is'',{{sfn|Fabian Tracts: 1884–1901}} a revision of an earlier tract in which Charlotte Wilson had defined socialism in anarchistic terms.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|p=182}} In Shaw's new version, readers were assured that "socialism can be brought about in a perfectly constitutional manner by democratic institutions".{{sfn|Shaw: ''What Socialism Is'' 1890|p=3}}

===Novelist and critic===
The mid-1880s marked a turning point in Shaw's life, both personally and professionally: he lost his virginity, had two novels published, and began a career as a critic.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=72, 81 and 94}} He had been celibate until his twenty-ninth birthday, when his shyness was overcome by Jane (Jenny) Patterson, a widow some years his senior.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=92–94}} Their affair continued, not always smoothly, for eight years. Shaw's sex life has caused much speculation and debate among his biographers, but there is a consensus that the relationship with Patterson was one of his few non-platonic romantic liaisons.{{refn|Some writers, including Lisbeth J. Sachs, Bernard Stern and Sally Peters, believe Shaw was a repressed homosexual, and that after Jenny Patterson all his relationships with women, including his marriage, were platonic.{{sfn|Peters|1996|p=289}} Others, such as [[Maurice Valency]], suggest that at least one other of Shaw's relationships—that with [[Florence Farr]]—was consummated.{{sfn|Valency|1973|p=89}} Evidence came to light in 2004 that a well-documented relationship between the septuagenarian Shaw and the young actress Molly Tompkins was not, as had been generally supposed, platonic.{{sfn|Owen|2004|p=3}} Shaw himself stressed his own heterosexuality to [[St. John Greer Ervine|St John Ervine]] ("I am the normal heterosexual man") and [[Frank Harris]] ("I was not impotent: I was not sterile; I was not homosexual; and I was extremely, though not promiscuously, susceptible").{{sfn|Peters|1996|p=171}}|group=n}}

The published novels, neither commercially successful, were his two final efforts in this genre: ''Cashel Byron's Profession'' written in 1882–83, and ''An Unsocial Socialist'', begun and finished in 1883. The latter was published as a serial in ''To-Day'' magazine in 1884, although it did not appear in book form until 1887. ''Cashel Byron'' appeared in magazine and book form in 1886.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}}

[[File:William-Morris-John-Ruskin.jpg|thumb|alt=Two elderly, bushily bearded, Victorian men|[[William Morris]] (left) and [[John Ruskin]]: important influences on Shaw's aesthetic views]]

In 1884 and 1885, through the influence of Archer, Shaw was engaged to write book and music criticism for London papers. When Archer resigned as art critic of ''[[The World (journal)|The World]]'' in 1886, he secured the succession for Shaw.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=81–83}} The two figures in the contemporary art world whose views Shaw most admired were [[William Morris]] and [[John Ruskin]], and he sought to follow their precepts in his criticisms.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=81–83}} Their emphasis on morality appealed to Shaw, who rejected the idea of [[art for art's sake]], and insisted that all great art must be [[didactic]].{{sfn|Crawford|1982|pp=21 and 23}}

Of Shaw's various reviewing activities in the 1880s and 1890s it was as a music critic that he was best known.{{sfn|Shaw and Laurence (Vol 1) 1981|p=22}} After serving as deputy in 1888, he became musical critic of ''[[The Star (1888)|The Star]]'' in February 1889, writing under the pen-name Corno di Bassetto.{{sfn|Shaw and Laurence (Vol 1) 1981|pp=16–17}}{{refn|A corno di bassetto is the Italian name for an obsolete musical instrument, the [[basset horn]]. Shaw chose it as his pen name because he thought it seemed dashing: "it sounded like a foreign title and nobody knew what a corno di bassetto was". Only later did he hear one played, after which he declared it "a wretched instrument [of] peculiar watery melancholy.&nbsp;... The devil himself could not make a basset horn sparkle".{{sfn|Shaw and Laurence (Vol 1) 1981|pp=30–31}}|group=n}} In May 1890 he moved back to ''The World'', where he wrote a weekly column as "G.B.S." for more than four years. In the 2016 version of the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', Robert Anderson writes, "Shaw's collected writings on music stand alone in their mastery of English and compulsive readability."{{sfn|Anderson: ''Grove Music Online''}} Shaw ceased to be a salaried music critic in August 1894, but published occasional articles on the subject throughout his career, his last in 1950.{{sfn|Shaw and Laurence (Vol 3) 1981|p=767}}

From 1895 to 1898, Shaw was the theatre critic for ''[[Saturday Review (London)|The Saturday Review]]'', edited by his friend [[Frank Harris]]. As at ''The World'', he used the by-line "G.B.S." He campaigned against the artificial conventions and hypocrisies of the [[Nineteenth-century theatre#Theatre in Britain|Victorian theatre]] and called for plays of real ideas and true characters. By this time he had embarked in earnest on a career as a playwright: "I had rashly taken up the case; and rather than let it collapse I manufactured the evidence".{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}}

===Playwright and politician: 1890s===
After using the plot of the aborted 1884 collaboration with Archer to complete ''Widowers' Houses'' (it was staged twice in London, in December 1892), Shaw continued writing plays. At first he made slow progress; ''[[The Philanderer]]'', written in 1893 but not published until 1898, had to wait until 1905 for a stage production. Similarly, ''[[Mrs Warren's Profession]]'' (1893) was written five years before publication and nine years before reaching the stage.{{refn|The first British production was at a private theatre club in 1902; the play was not licensed for public performance until 1925.{{sfn|''The Times'', 29 September 1925|p=12}}|group=n}}

[[File:Bernard-Shaw-1894.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Man in early middle age, with full beard|Shaw in 1894 at the time of ''[[Arms and the Man]]'']]
Shaw's first play to bring him financial success was ''[[Arms and the Man]]'' (1894), a mock-[[Ruritania]]n comedy satirising conventions of love, military honour and class.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} The press found the play overlong, and accused Shaw of mediocrity,{{sfn|''The Standard'', 23 April 1894|p=2}} sneering at heroism and patriotism,{{sfn|''Fun'', 1 May 1894|p=179}} heartless cleverness,{{sfn|''The Observer'', 22 April 1894|p=5}} and copying [[W. S. Gilbert|W.{{space}}S.{{space}}Gilbert]]'s style.{{sfn|''The Standard'', 23 April 1894|p=2}}{{refn|Shaw was sensitive to the charge of emulating Gilbert. He insisted that it was Gilbert who was heartless, while he himself was constructive.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=172–173}}|group=n}} The public took a different view, and the management of the theatre staged extra matinée performances to meet the demand.{{sfn|''The Sporting Times'', 19 May 1894|p=3}} The play ran from April to July, toured the provinces and was staged in New York.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=172–173}} It earned him £341 in royalties in its first year, a sufficient sum to enable him to give up his salaried post as a music critic.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=173}} Among the cast of the London production was [[Florence Farr]], with whom Shaw had a romantic relationship between 1890 and 1894, much resented by Jenny Patterson.{{sfn|Peters|1998|pp=138 and 210}}

The success of ''Arms and the Man'' was not immediately replicated. ''[[Candida (play)|Candida]]'', which presented a young woman making a conventional romantic choice for unconventional reasons, received a single performance in [[South Shields]] in 1895;{{sfn|''The Daily News'', 1 April 1895|p=2}} in 1897 a playlet about Napoleon called ''[[The Man of Destiny]]'' had a single staging at [[Croydon]].{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=75–78}} In the 1890s Shaw's plays were better known in print than on the [[West End theatre|West End]] stage; his biggest success of the decade was in New York in 1897, when [[Richard Mansfield]]'s production of the historical melodrama ''[[The Devil's Disciple (play)|The Devil's Disciple]]'' earned the author more than £2,000 in royalties.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}}

In January 1893, as a Fabian delegate, Shaw attended the Bradford conference which led to the foundation of the [[Independent Labour Party]].{{sfn|Pelling|1965|pp=115–116}} He was sceptical about the new party,{{sfn|Adelman|1996|p=22}} and scorned the likelihood that it could switch the allegiance of the working class from sport to politics.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=270–272}} He persuaded the conference to adopt resolutions abolishing [[indirect taxation]], and taxing [[unearned income]] "to extinction".{{sfn|Pelling|1965|pp=119–120}} Back in London, Shaw produced what [[Margaret Cole]], in her Fabian history, terms a "grand philippic" against the minority [[Liberal government 1892–95|Liberal administration]] that had taken power in 1892. ''To Your Tents, O Israel!'' excoriated the government for ignoring social issues and concentrating solely on [[Irish Home Rule movement|Irish Home Rule]], a matter Shaw declared of no relevance to socialism.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=270–272}}{{sfn|Cole|1961|pp=46–48}}{{refn|With [[1895 United Kingdom general election|another election]] looming in 1895, the text of ''To Your Tents'' was modified, to become Fabian Tract No. 49, ''A Plan of Campaign For Labor''.{{sfn|Fabian Tracts: 1884–1901}}{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=270–272}}|group=n}} In 1894 the Fabian Society received a substantial bequest from a sympathiser, Henry Hunt Hutchinson—Holroyd mentions £10,000. Webb, who chaired the board of trustees appointed to supervise the legacy, proposed to use most of it to found a school of economics and politics. Shaw demurred; he thought such a venture was contrary to the specified purpose of the legacy. He was eventually persuaded to support the proposal, and the [[London School of Economics and Political Science]] (LSE) opened in the summer of 1895.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|pp=409–411}}

By the later 1890s Shaw's political activities lessened as he concentrated on making his name as a dramatist.{{sfn|Pelling|1965|p=184}} In 1897 he was persuaded to fill an uncontested vacancy for a "vestryman" ([[Parish councils in England|parish councillor]]) in London's [[St Pancras, London|St Pancras]] district. At least initially, Shaw took to his municipal responsibilities seriously;{{refn|Shaw served on the vestry's Health Committee, the Officers Committee and the Committee for Public Lighting.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|p=414}}|group=n}} when London government was reformed in 1899 and the St Pancras vestry became the [[Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras]], he was elected to the newly formed borough council.{{sfn|Holroyd|1990|p=416}}

In 1898, as a result of overwork, Shaw's health broke down. He was nursed by [[Charlotte Payne-Townshend]], a rich Anglo-Irish woman whom he had met through the Webbs. The previous year she had proposed that she and Shaw should marry.{{sfn|Holroyd| 1997|p=249}} He had declined, but when she insisted on nursing him in a house in the country, Shaw, concerned that this might cause scandal, agreed to their marriage.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}} The ceremony took place on 1 June 1898, in the [[register office]] in [[Covent Garden]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=263}} The bride and bridegroom were both aged forty-one. In the view of the biographer and critic [[St John Greer Ervine|St John Ervine]], "their life together was entirely felicitous".{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}} There were no children of the marriage, which it is generally believed was never consummated; whether this was wholly at Charlotte's wish, as Shaw liked to suggest, is less widely credited.{{sfn|Adams|1971|p=154}}{{sfn|Carr|1976|p=10}}{{sfn|Peters|1996|p=218}}{{sfn|Weintraub|1982|p=4}}{{sfn|Crawford|1975|p=93}} In the early weeks of the marriage Shaw was much occupied writing his Marxist analysis of [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s [[Der Ring des Nibelungen|''Ring'' cycle]], published as ''[[The Perfect Wagnerite]]'' late in 1898.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=11–13}} In 1906 the Shaws found a country home in [[Ayot St Lawrence]], Hertfordshire; they renamed the house "[[Shaw's Corner]]", and lived there for the rest of their lives. They retained a London flat in the [[Adelphi Terrace|Adelphi]] and later at [[Whitehall Court]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=261, 356 and 786}}

===Stage success: 1900–1914===
[[File:Caesar-and-Cleopatra-1906.jpg|thumb|alt=Stage photograph showing actor as Julius Caesar and actress as Cleopatra in Egyptian setting|Gertrude Elliott and [[Johnston Forbes-Robertson]] in ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'', New York, 1906]]
During the first decade of the twentieth century, Shaw secured a firm reputation as a playwright. In 1904 [[John Eugene Vedrenne|J. E. Vedrenne]] and [[Harley Granville-Barker]] established a company at the [[Royal Court Theatre]] in [[Sloane Square]], [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] to present modern drama. Over the next five years they staged fourteen of Shaw's plays.{{sfn|''The Observer'', 8 March 1908|p=8}}{{refn|At the Royal Court and then at the [[Savoy Theatre|Savoy]], the Shaw plays presented by the partnership between 1905 and 1908 were ''[[You Never Can Tell (play)|You Never Can Tell]]'' (177 performances), ''[[Man and Superman]]'' (176), ''[[John Bull's Other Island]]'' (121), ''[[Captain Brassbound's Conversion]]'' (89), ''[[Arms and the Man]]'' (77), ''[[Major Barbara]]'' (52), ''[[The Doctor's Dilemma (play)|The Doctor's Dilemma]]'' (50), ''[[The Devil's Disciple (play)|The Devil's Disciple]]'' (42), ''[[Candida (play)|Candida]]'' (31), ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'' (28), ''[[How He Lied to Her Husband]]'' (9), ''[[The Philanderer]]'' (8), ''[[Don Juan in Hell]]'' (8) and ''[[The Man of Destiny]]'' (8).{{sfn|''The Observer'', 8 March 1908|p=8}}|group=n}} The first, ''[[John Bull's Other Island]]'', a comedy about an Englishman in Ireland, attracted leading politicians and was seen by [[Edward VII]], who laughed so much that he broke his chair.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=311}} The play was withheld from Dublin's [[Abbey Theatre]], for fear of the affront it might provoke,{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} although it was shown at the city's Royal Theatre in November 1907.{{sfn|Merriman|2010|pp=219–20}} Shaw later wrote that [[William Butler Yeats]], who had requested the play, "got rather more than he bargained for{{space}}... It was uncongenial to the whole spirit of the neo-Gaelic movement, which is bent on creating a new Ireland after its own ideal, whereas my play is a very uncompromising presentment of the real old Ireland."{{sfn|Broad and Broad 1929|p=53}}{{refn|Shaw often mocked the pretensions of the [[Gaelic League]] to represent modern-day Ireland—the League had, he said, been "invented in [[Bedford Park, London]]."{{sfn|Shaw|1998|p=64}} In a 1950 study of the [[Abbey Theatre]], Peter Kavanagh wrote: "Yeats and [[J. M. Synge|Synge]] did not feel that Shaw belonged to the real Irish tradition. His plays would thus have no place in the Irish theatre movement". Kavanagh added, "an important part of Shaw's plays was political argument, and Yeats detested this quality in dramatic writing."{{sfn|Kavanagh|1950| p= 55}}|group=n}} Nonetheless, Shaw and Yeats were close friends; Yeats and [[Augusta, Lady Gregory|Lady Gregory]] tried unsuccessfully to persuade Shaw to take up the vacant co-directorship of the Abbey Theatre after [[J. M. Synge]]'s death in 1909.{{sfn|Gahan|2010|pp=10–11}} Shaw admired other figures in the [[Irish Literary Revival]], including [[George William Russell|George Russell]]{{sfn|Gahan|2010|p=8}} and [[James Joyce]],{{sfn|Gahan|2010|p=14}} and was a close friend of [[Seán O'Casey]], who was inspired to become a playwright after reading ''John Bull's Other Island''.{{sfn|Gahan|2010|p=1}}

''[[Man and Superman]]'', completed in 1902, was a success both at the Royal Court in 1905 and in [[Robert Loraine]]'s New York production in the same year. Among the other Shaw works presented by Vedrenne and Granville-Barker were ''[[Major Barbara]]'' (1905), depicting the contrasting morality of arms manufacturers and the [[Salvation Army]];{{sfn|''The Observer'', 3 December 1905|p=5}} ''[[The Doctor's Dilemma (play)|The Doctor's Dilemma]]'' (1906), a mostly serious piece about professional ethics;{{sfn|''The Manchester Guardian'', 21 November 1906|p=7}} and ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'', Shaw's counterblast to Shakespeare's ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'', seen in New York in 1906 and in London the following year.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=217}}

Now prosperous and established, Shaw experimented with unorthodox theatrical forms described by his biographer [[Stanley Weintraub]] as "discussion drama" and "serious [[farce]]".{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} These plays included ''[[Getting Married]]'' (premiered 1908), ''[[The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet]]'' (1909), ''[[Misalliance (play)|Misalliance]]'' (1910), and ''[[Fanny's First Play]]'' (1911). ''Blanco Posnet'' was banned on religious grounds by the [[Lord Chamberlain#Theatre censorship|Lord Chamberlain]] (the official theatre censor in England), and was produced instead in Dublin; it filled the Abbey Theatre to capacity.{{sfn|Laurence|1955|p=8}} ''Fanny's First Play'', a comedy about [[suffragette]]s, had the longest initial run of any Shaw play—622 performances.{{sfn|Gaye|1967|p=1531}}

''[[Androcles and the Lion (play)|Androcles and the Lion]]'' (1912), a less heretical study of true and false religious attitudes than ''Blanco Posnet'', ran for eight weeks in September and October 1913.{{sfn|Wearing|1982|p=379}} It was followed by one of Shaw's most successful plays, ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'', written in 1912 and staged in Vienna the following year, and in Berlin shortly afterwards.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=440}} Shaw commented, "It is the custom of the English press when a play of mine is produced, to inform the world that it is not a play—that it is dull, blasphemous, unpopular, and financially unsuccessful.&nbsp;... Hence arose an urgent demand on the part of the managers of Vienna and Berlin that I should have my plays performed by them first."{{sfn|''The New York Times'', 23 November 1913|p=X6}} The British production opened in April 1914, starring [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree|Sir Herbert Tree]] and [[Mrs Patrick Campbell]] as, respectively, a professor of phonetics and a [[cockney]] flower-girl. There had earlier been a romantic liaison between Shaw and Campbell that caused Charlotte Shaw considerable concern, but by the time of the London premiere it had ended.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=426–430}} The play attracted capacity audiences until July, when Tree insisted on going on holiday, and the production closed. His co-star then toured with the piece in the US.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp= 443–444}}{{sfn|''The New York Times'', 10 October 1914}}{{refn|In Tree's absence from the American production, his role, Professor Higgins, was successfully taken by [[Philip Merivale]], who had played Colonel Pickering in London.{{sfn|''The New York Times'', 13 October 1914}} Campbell continued to romanticise the piece, contrary to Shaw's wishes.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=443–444}}|group=n}}

===Fabian years: 1900–1913===
[[File:George Bernard Shaw notebook.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Man in late middle age, with full head of hair, full beard, and combative facial expression|Shaw in 1914, aged 57]]
In 1899, when the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]] began, Shaw wished the Fabians to take a neutral stance on what he deemed, like [[Irish Home Rule movement|Home Rule]], to be a "non-Socialist" issue. Others, including the future Labour prime minister [[Ramsay MacDonald]], wanted unequivocal opposition, and resigned from the society when it followed Shaw.{{sfn|Pelling|1965|pp=187–188}} In the Fabians' war manifesto, ''Fabianism and the Empire'' (1900), Shaw declared that "until the Federation of the World becomes an accomplished fact we must accept the most responsible Imperial federations available as a substitute for it".{{sfn|Shaw: ''Fabianism and the Empire'' 1900|p=24}}

As the new century began, Shaw became increasingly disillusioned by the limited impact of the Fabians on national politics.{{sfn|McBriar|1962|p=83}} Thus, although a nominated Fabian delegate, he did not attend the London conference at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street in February 1900, that created the [[Labour Representation Committee (1900)|Labour Representation Committee]]—precursor of the modern [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].{{sfn|Cole|1961|p=90}} By 1903, when his term as borough councillor expired, he had lost his earlier enthusiasm, writing: "After six years of Borough Councilling I am convinced that the borough councils should be abolished".{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=46–47}} Nevertheless, in 1904 he stood in the [[London County Council]] elections. After an eccentric campaign, which Holroyd characterises as "[making] absolutely certain of not getting in", he was duly defeated. It was Shaw's final foray into electoral politics.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=46–47}} Nationally, the [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906 general election]] produced a huge Liberal majority and an intake of 29 Labour members. Shaw viewed this outcome with scepticism; he had a low opinion of the new prime minister, [[Henry Campbell-Bannerman|Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman]], and saw the Labour members as inconsequential: "I apologise to the Universe for my connection with such a body".{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=125–126}}

In the years after the 1906 election, Shaw felt that the Fabians needed fresh leadership, and saw this in the form of his fellow-writer [[H. G. Wells]], who had joined the society in February 1903.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=129–133}} Wells's ideas for reform—particularly his proposals for closer cooperation with the Independent Labour Party—placed him at odds with the society's "Old Gang", led by Shaw.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=142–145}} According to Cole, Wells "had minimal capacity for putting [his ideas] across in public meetings against Shaw's trained and practised virtuosity".{{sfn|Cole|1961|p=123}} In Shaw's view, "the Old Gang did not extinguish Mr Wells, he annihilated himself".{{sfn|Cole|1961|p=123}} Wells resigned from the society in September 1908;{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|p=259}} Shaw remained a member, but left the executive in April 1911. He later wondered whether the Old Gang should have given way to Wells some years earlier: "God only knows whether the Society had not better have done it".{{sfn|Cole|1961|p=144}}{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=267–268}} Although less active—he blamed his advancing years—Shaw remained a Fabian.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|p=318}}

In 1912 Shaw invested £1,000 for a one-fifth share in the Webbs' new publishing venture, a socialist weekly magazine called ''[[New Statesman|The New Statesman]]'', which appeared in April 1913. He became a founding director, publicist, and in due course a contributor, mostly anonymously.{{sfn|Smith|2013|pp=38–42}} He was soon at odds with the magazine's editor, [[Clifford Sharp]], who by 1916 was rejecting his contributions—"the only paper in the world that refuses to print anything by me", according to Shaw.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=319–321}}

===First World War===
{{quote box|width=300px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=right|quote="I see the Junkers and Militarists of England and Germany jumping at the chance they have longed for in vain for many years of smashing one another and establishing their own oligarchy as the dominant military power of the world."|salign=left|source=Shaw: ''Common Sense About the War'' (1914).{{sfn|Shaw: ''Common Sense About the War'' 1914|p=12}}}}
After the First World War began in August 1914, Shaw produced his tract ''Common Sense About the War'', which argued that the warring nations were equally culpable.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} Such a view was anathema in an atmosphere of fervent patriotism, and offended many of Shaw's friends; Ervine records that "[h]is appearance at any public function caused the instant departure of many of those present."{{sfn|Ervine|1956|p=464}}

Despite his errant reputation, Shaw's propagandist skills were recognised by the British authorities, and early in 1917 he was invited by [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Field Marshal Haig]] to visit the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] battlefields. Shaw's 10,000-word report, which emphasised the human aspects of the soldier's life, was well received, and he became less of a lone voice. In April 1917 he joined the national consensus in welcoming [[United States in World War I|America's entry]] into the war: "a first class moral asset to the common cause against [[Junker (Prussia)|junkerism]]".{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=371–374}}

Three short plays by Shaw were premiered during the war. ''[[The Inca of Perusalem]]'', written in 1915, encountered problems with the censor for burlesquing not only the enemy but the British military command; it was performed in 1916 at the [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]].{{sfn|Evans|2003|p=110}} ''[[O'Flaherty V.C.]]'', satirising the government's attitude to Irish recruits, was banned in the UK and was presented at a [[Royal Flying Corps]] base in Belgium in 1917. ''[[Augustus Does His Bit]]'', a genial farce, was granted a licence; it opened at the Royal Court in January 1917.{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=112–113}}

===Ireland===
[[File:Sackville Street (Dublin) after the 1916 Easter Rising.JPG|thumb|alt=Cityscape of badly damaged large buildings|left|Dublin city centre in ruins after the Easter Rising, April 1916]]
Shaw had long supported the principle of Irish Home Rule within the [[British Empire]] (which he thought should become the British Commonwealth).{{sfn|Clare|2016|p=176}} In April 1916 he wrote scathingly in ''[[The New York Times]]'' about militant Irish nationalism: "In point of learning nothing and forgetting nothing these fellow-patriots of mine leave the Bourbons nowhere."{{sfn|Shaw: "Irish Nonsense About Ireland" 1916}} Total independence, he asserted, was impractical; alliance with a bigger power (preferably England) was essential.{{sfn|Shaw: "Irish Nonsense About Ireland" 1916}} The Dublin [[Easter Rising]] later that month took him by surprise. After its suppression by British forces, he expressed horror at the [[summary execution]] of the rebel leaders, but continued to believe in some form of Anglo-Irish union. In ''How to Settle the Irish Question'' (1917), he envisaged a federal arrangement, with national and imperial parliaments. Holroyd records that by this time the separatist party [[Sinn Féin]] was in the ascendency, and Shaw's and other moderate schemes were forgotten.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|pp=390–391}}

In the postwar period, Shaw despaired of the British government's coercive policies towards Ireland,{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=60}} and joined his fellow-writers [[Hilaire Belloc]] and [[G. K. Chesterton]] in publicly condemning these actions.{{sfn|Bennett|2010|p=60}} The [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] of December 1921 led to the [[partition of Ireland]] between north and south, a provision that dismayed Shaw.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=60}} In 1922 [[Irish Civil War|civil war]] broke out in the south between its pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions, the former of whom had established the [[Irish Free State]].{{sfn|Mackay|1997|pp=251–254}} Shaw visited Dublin in August, and met [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], then head of the Free State's [[Provisional Government of Ireland (1922)|Provisional Government]].{{sfn|Mackay|1997|p=280}} Shaw was much impressed by Collins, and was saddened when, three days later, the Irish leader was ambushed and killed by anti-treaty forces.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=62}} In a letter to Collins's sister, Shaw wrote: "I met Michael for the first and last time on Saturday last, and am very glad I did. I rejoice in his memory, and will not be so disloyal to it as to snivel over his valiant death".{{sfn|Mackay|1997|pp=296–297}} Shaw remained a British subject all his life, but took dual British-Irish nationality in 1934.{{sfn|Holroyd|1989|p=384}}

===1920s===
[[File:Shaw's writing hut.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Garden hut in well-kept surroundings|The rotating hut in the garden of Shaw's Corner, [[Ayot St Lawrence]], where Shaw wrote most of his works after 1906]]
Shaw's first major work to appear after the war was ''[[Heartbreak House]]'', written in 1916–17 and performed in 1920. It was produced on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in November, and was coolly received; according to ''The Times''<!--Is this The New York Times? NO: JUST THE TIMES, AS THE CITATION CONFIRMS – THAT IS THE PAPER’S FULL TITLE; THE NYT AND TIMES OF INDIA ETC ARE DERIVATIVES-->: "Mr Shaw on this occasion has more than usual to say and takes twice as long as usual to say it".{{sfn|''The Times'', 12 November 1920|p=11}} After the London premiere in October 1921 ''The Times'' concurred with the American critics: "As usual with Mr Shaw, the play is about an hour too long", although containing "much entertainment and some profitable reflection".{{sfn|''The Times'', 19 October 1921|p=8}} Ervine in ''The Observer'' thought the play brilliant but ponderously acted, except for [[Edith Evans]] as Lady Utterword.{{sfn|Ervine|1921|p=11}}

Shaw's largest-scale theatrical work was ''[[Back to Methuselah]]'', written in 1918–20 and staged in 1922. Weintraub describes it as "Shaw's attempt to fend off 'the bottomless pit of an utterly discouraging pessimism'".{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} This cycle of five interrelated plays depicts evolution, and the effects of longevity, from the Garden of Eden to the year 31,920 AD.{{sfn|Shaw|1934|pp=855, 869, 891, 910–911, 938}} Critics found the five plays strikingly uneven in quality and invention.{{sfn|Ervine|1923|p=11}}{{sfn|''The Times'', 15 October 1923|p=11}}{{sfn|Rhodes|1923|p=8}} The original run was brief, and the work has been revived infrequently.{{sfn|Gaye|1967|p=1357}}{{sfn|Drabble ''et al.'' 2007 "Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch"}} Shaw felt he had exhausted his remaining creative powers in the huge span of this "Metabiological Pentateuch". He was now sixty-seven, and expected to write no more plays.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}}

This mood was short-lived. In 1920 [[Joan of Arc]] was proclaimed a [[Catholic saint|saint]] by [[Pope Benedict XV]]; Shaw had long found Joan an interesting historical character, and his view of her veered between "half-witted genius" and someone of "exceptional sanity".{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=520}} He had considered writing a play about her in 1913, and the [[canonisation]] prompted him to return to the subject.{{sfn|Weintraub|2013}} He wrote ''[[Saint Joan (play)|Saint Joan]]'' in the middle months of 1923, and the play was premiered on Broadway in December. It was enthusiastically received there,{{sfn|''The Times'', 9 December 1923|p=8}} and at its London premiere the following March.{{sfn|''The Times'', 27 March 1924|p=12}} In Weintraub's phrase, "even the Nobel prize committee could no longer ignore Shaw after Saint Joan". The citation for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature|literature prize]] for 1925 praised his work as "...&nbsp;marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty".{{sfn|The Nobel Prize in Literature 1925}} He accepted the award, but rejected the monetary prize that went with it, on the grounds that "My readers and my audiences provide me with more than sufficient money for my needs".{{sfn| Quoted in Kamm 1999|p=74}}{{refn|Shaw had been considered and rejected for a Nobel Prize four or five times before this.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=530}} He arranged for the prize money to be used to sponsor a new [[Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation]], for the translation into English of Swedish literature, including [[August Strindberg]]'s plays.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}}|group=n}}

After ''Saint Joan'', it was five years before Shaw wrote a play. From 1924, he spent four years writing what he described as his "magnum opus", a political treatise entitled ''[[The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism]]''.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|pp=128–131}} The book was published in 1928 and sold well.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}}{{refn|In 1937 the book was reissued, with additional chapters and an extended title, ''The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism and Fascism'', and was published by [[Penguin Books]] as the first in the new paperback series called [[Pelican Books|Pelicans]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=373}}|group=n}} At the end of the decade Shaw produced his final Fabian tract, a commentary on the [[League of Nations]]. He described the League as "a school for the new international statesmanship as against the old Foreign Office diplomacy", but thought that it had not yet become the "Federation of the World".{{sfn|Shaw: ''The League of Nations'' 1929|pp=6 and 11}}

Shaw returned to the theatre with what he called "a political extravaganza", ''[[The Apple Cart]]'', written in late 1928. It was, in Ervine's view, unexpectedly popular, taking a conservative, monarchist, anti-democratic line that appealed to contemporary audiences. The premiere was in Warsaw in June 1928, and the first British production was two months later, at [[Barry Jackson (director)|Sir Barry Jackson]]'s inaugural [[The Malvern Festival (1929-1939)|Malvern Festival]].{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}} The other eminent creative artist most closely associated with the festival was [[Edward Elgar|Sir Edward Elgar]], with whom Shaw enjoyed a deep friendship and mutual regard.{{sfn|Young|1973|p=240}} He described ''The Apple Cart'' to Elgar as "a scandalous Aristophanic burlesque of democratic politics, with a brief but shocking sex interlude".{{sfn|Weintraub|2002|p=7}}

During the 1920s Shaw began to lose faith in the idea that society could be changed through Fabian gradualism, and became increasingly fascinated with dictatorial methods. In 1922 he had welcomed [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]'s accession to power in Italy, observing that amid the "indiscipline and muddle and Parliamentary deadlock", Mussolini was "the right kind of tyrant".{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=143}} Shaw was prepared to tolerate certain dictatorial excesses; Weintraub in his [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|ODNB]] biographical sketch comments that Shaw's "flirtation with authoritarian inter-war regimes" took a long time to fade, and [[Beatrice Webb]] thought he was "obsessed" about Mussolini.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=146}}

===1930s===
{{quote box|width=300px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=left|quote="We the undersigned are recent visitors to the USSR&nbsp;... We desire to record that we saw nowhere evidence of economic slavery, privation, unemployment and cynical despair of betterment.&nbsp;... Everywhere we saw [a] hopeful and enthusiastic working-class&nbsp;... setting an example of industry and conduct which would greatly enrich us if our systems supplied our workers with any incentive to follow it."|salign=left|source= Letter to ''The Manchester Guardian'', 2 March 1933, signed by Shaw and 20 others.{{sfn|Shaw et al.: "Social Conditions in Russia", 2 March 1933}}}}
Shaw's enthusiasm for the [[Soviet Union]] dated to the early 1920s when he had hailed [[Lenin]] as "the one really interesting statesman in Europe".{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=226}} Having turned down several chances to visit, in 1931 he joined a party led by [[Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor|Nancy Astor]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|pp=233–234}} The carefully managed trip culminated in a lengthy meeting with [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]], whom Shaw later described as "a Georgian<!--Was he referring to Stalin's native Georgian SSR, or to George V? Useful to distinguish.--> gentleman" with no malice in him.{{sfn|Weintraub: "GBS and the Despots", 22 August 2011}} At a dinner given in his honour, Shaw told the gathering: "I have seen all the 'terrors' and I was terribly pleased by them".{{sfn|Nestruck|2011}} In March 1933, he was a co-signatory to a letter in ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' protesting at the continuing misrepresentation of Soviet achievements: "No lie is too fantastic, no slander is too stale&nbsp;... for employment by the more reckless elements of the British press."{{sfn|Shaw et al.: "Social Conditions in Russia", 2 March 1933}}

Shaw's admiration for Mussolini and Stalin demonstrated his growing belief that dictatorship was the only viable political arrangement. When the [[Nazi Party]] came to power in Germany in January 1933, Shaw described [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] as "a very remarkable man, a very able man",{{sfn|Geduld|1961|pp=11–12}} and professed himself proud to be the only writer in England who was "scrupulously polite and just to Hitler";{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=421}}{{refn|Shaw was not alone in being initially deceived by Hitler. The former British prime minister [[David Lloyd George]] described the Führer in 1936 as "unquestionably a great leader".{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=404}} A year later the former Labour Party leader [[George Lansbury]] recorded that Hitler "could listen to reason", and that "Christianity in its purest sense might have a chance with him".{{sfn|Shepherd|2002|p=341}}|group=n}} though his principal admiration was for Stalin, whose regime he championed uncritically throughout the decade.{{sfn|Nestruck|2011}} Shaw saw the 1939 [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] as a triumph for Stalin who, he said, now had Hitler under his thumb.{{sfn|Geduld|1961|pp=15–16}}

Shaw's first play of the decade was ''[[Too True to Be Good]]'', written in 1931 and premiered in [[Boston]] in February 1932. The reception was unenthusiastic. [[Brooks Atkinson]] of ''The New York Times'' commenting that Shaw had "yielded to the impulse to write without having a subject", judged the play a "rambling and indifferently tedious conversation". The correspondent of the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' said that most of the play was "discourse, unbelievably long lectures" and that although the audience enjoyed the play it was bewildered by it.{{sfn|''The Manchester Guardian'', 2 March 1932|p=12}}

[[File:George Bernard Shaw 1936.jpg|thumb|Shaw in 1936, aged 80]]

During the decade Shaw travelled widely and frequently. Most of his journeys were with Charlotte; she enjoyed voyages on ocean liners, and he found peace to write during the long spells at sea.{{sfn|Laurence|1985|pp=279–282}} Shaw met an enthusiastic welcome in [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]] in 1932, despite his strong remarks about the racial divisions of the country.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=640–642}} In December 1932 the couple embarked on a round-the-world cruise. In March 1933 they arrived at [[San Francisco]], to begin Shaw's first visit to the US. He had earlier refused to go to "that awful country, that uncivilized place", "unfit to govern itself{{space}}... illiberal, superstitious, crude, violent, anarchic and arbitrary".{{sfn|Laurence|1985|pp=279–282}} He visited [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], with which he was unimpressed, and New York, where he lectured to a capacity audience in the [[Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)|Metropolitan Opera House]].{{sfn|Laurence|1985|p=288}} Harried by the intrusive attentions of the press, Shaw was glad when his ship sailed from [[New York Harbor|New York harbour]].{{sfn|Laurence|1985|p=292}} New Zealand, which he and Charlotte visited the following year, struck him as "the best country I've been in"; he urged its people to be more confident and loosen their dependence on trade with Britain.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=668 and 670}} He used the weeks at sea to complete two plays—''[[The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles]]'' and ''[[The Six of Calais]]''—and begin work on a third, ''[[The Millionairess (play)|The Millionairess]]''.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=667}}

Despite his contempt for Hollywood and its aesthetic values, Shaw was enthusiastic about cinema, and in the middle of the decade wrote screenplays for prospective film versions of ''Pygmalion'' and ''Saint Joan''.{{sfn|Laurence|1985|p=285}}{{sfn|Weales|1969|p=80}} The latter was never made, but Shaw entrusted the rights to the former to the unknown [[Gabriel Pascal]], who produced it at [[Pinewood Studios]] in 1938. Shaw was determined that Hollywood should have nothing to do with the film, but was powerless to keep it from winning one [[Academy Award]] ("Oscar"); he described his award for "best-written screenplay" as an insult, coming from such a source.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=715}}{{refn|This did not prevent him from putting the award—a golden figurine—on his mantelpiece.{{sfn|Pascal|1971|p=86}} Shaw was one of four to receive the award, along with [[Ian Dalrymple]], [[Cecil Arthur Lewis|Cecil Lewis]] and [[W. P. Lipscomb]], who had also worked on adapting Shaw's text.{{sfn|Burton and Chibnall 2013|p=715}}|group=n}} He became the first person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar.{{sfn|Peters|1998|p=257}} In a 1993 study of the Oscars, [[Anthony Holden]] observes that ''Pygmalion'' was soon spoken of as having "lifted movie-making from illiteracy to literacy".{{sfn|Holden|1993|p=141}}

Shaw's final plays of the 1930s were ''[[Cymbeline Refinished]]'' (1936), ''[[Geneva (play)|Geneva]]'' (1936) and ''[[In Good King Charles's Golden Days]]'' (1939). The first, a fantasy reworking of Shakespeare, made little impression, but the second, a satire on European dictators, attracted more notice, much of it unfavourable.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=718 and 724}} In particular, Shaw's parody of Hitler as "Herr Battler" was considered mild, almost sympathetic.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=404}}{{sfn|Geduld|1961|pp=15–16}} The third play, an historical conversation piece first seen at Malvern, ran briefly in London in May 1940.{{sfn|Evans|1976|p=360}} [[James Agate]] commented that the play contained nothing to which even the most conservative audiences could take exception, and though it was long and lacking in dramatic action only "witless and idle" theatregoers would object.{{sfn|Evans|1976|p=360}} After their first runs none of the three plays were seen again in the West End during Shaw's lifetime.{{sfn|Gaye|1967|pp=1391 and 1406}}

Towards the end of the decade, both Shaws began to suffer ill health. Charlotte was increasingly incapacitated by [[Paget's disease of bone]], and he developed [[pernicious anaemia]]. His treatment, involving injections of concentrated animal liver, was successful, but this breach of his vegetarian creed distressed him and brought down condemnation from militant vegetarians.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=698 and 747}}

===Second World War and final years===
Although Shaw's works since ''The Apple Cart'' had been received without great enthusiasm, his earlier plays were revived in the West End throughout the Second World War, starring such actors as Edith Evans, [[John Gielgud]], [[Deborah Kerr]] and [[Robert Donat]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=737}} In 1944 nine Shaw plays were staged in London, including ''Arms and the Man'' with [[Ralph Richardson]], [[Laurence Olivier]], [[Sybil Thorndike]] and [[Margaret Leighton]] in the leading roles. Two touring companies took his plays all round Britain.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=737–738}} The revival in his popularity did not tempt Shaw to write a new play, and he concentrated on prolific journalism.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=738}} A second Shaw film produced by Pascal, ''[[Major Barbara (film)|Major Barbara]]'' (1941), was less successful both artistically and commercially than ''Pygmalion'', partly because of Pascal's insistence on directing, to which he was unsuited.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=742–743}}

{{quote box|width=300px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=right|quote= "The rest of Shaw's life was quiet and solitary. The loss of his wife was more profoundly felt than he had ever imagined any loss could be: for he prided himself on a stoical fortitude in all loss and misfortune."|salign=left|source= St John Ervine on Shaw, 1959{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}}}}

Following the [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)|outbreak of war]] on 3 September 1939 and the rapid [[Invasion of Poland|conquest of Poland]], Shaw was accused of defeatism when, in a ''New Statesman'' article, he declared the war over and demanded a peace conference.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=427}} Nevertheless, when he became convinced that a negotiated peace was impossible, he publicly urged the neutral United States to join the fight.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=742–743}} The [[The Blitz|London blitz]] of 1940–41 led the Shaws, both in their mid-eighties, to live full-time at Ayot St Lawrence. Even there they were not immune from enemy air raids, and stayed on occasion with Nancy Astor at her country house, [[Cliveden]].{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=744–747}} In 1943, the worst of the London bombing over, the Shaws moved back to Whitehall Court, where medical help for Charlotte was more easily arranged. Her condition deteriorated, and she died in September.{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|pp=744–747}}

Shaw's final political treatise, ''Everybody's Political What's What'', was published in 1944. Holroyd describes this as "a rambling narrative&nbsp;... that repeats ideas he had given better elsewhere and then repeats itself".{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|pp=480–481}} The book sold well—85,000 copies by the end of the year.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|pp=480–481}} After Hitler's suicide in May 1945, Shaw approved of the formal condolences offered by the Irish [[Taoiseach]], [[Éamon de Valera]], at the German embassy in Dublin.{{sfn|Geduld|1961|p=18}} Shaw disapproved of the postwar [[Nuremberg trials|trials of the defeated German leaders]], as an act of self-righteousness: "We are all potential criminals".{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=483}}

Pascal was given a third opportunity to film Shaw's work with ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (film)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'' (1945). It cost three times its original budget and was rated "the biggest financial failure in the history of British cinema".{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=477}} The film was poorly received by British critics, although American reviews were friendlier. Shaw thought its lavishness nullified the drama, and he considered the film "a poor imitation of [[Cecil B. de Mille]]".{{sfn|Holroyd|1997|p=768}}

[[File:Shaw's Corner at Ayot St Lawrence.jpg|thumb|left|alt=View of modest-sized country house from extensive gardens|Garden of Shaw's Corner]]

In 1946, the year of Shaw's ninetieth birthday, he accepted the freedom of Dublin and became the first honorary freeman of the borough of St Pancras, London.{{sfn|Ervine 1959 DNB archive}} In the same year the British government asked Shaw informally whether he would accept the [[Order of Merit]]. He declined, believing that an author's merit could only be determined by the posthumous verdict of history.{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=484}}{{refn|In the early 1920s Lloyd George had considered putting Shaw's name forward for the award, but concluded that it would be more prudent to offer it to [[J. M. Barrie]], who accepted it. Shaw later said he would have refused it if offered, just as he refused the offer of a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]].{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=484}}|group=n}} 1946 saw the publication, as ''The Crime of Imprisonment'', of the preface Shaw had written 20 years previously to a study of prison conditions. It was widely praised; a reviewer in the ''[[American Journal of Public Health]]'' considered it essential reading for any student of the American criminal justice system.{{sfn|Broughton|1946|p=808}}

Shaw continued to write into his nineties. His last plays were ''[[Buoyant Billions]]'' (1947), his final full-length work; ''[[Farfetched Fables]]'' (1948) a set of six short plays revisiting several of his earlier themes such as evolution; a comic play for puppets, ''[[Shakes versus Shav]]'' (1949), a ten-minute piece in which Shakespeare and Shaw trade insults;{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|pp=486–488}} and ''[[Why She Would Not]]'' (1950), which Shaw described as "a little comedy", written in one week shortly before his ninety-fourth birthday.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|pp=508–511}}

During his later years, Shaw enjoyed tending the gardens at Shaw's Corner. He died at the age of 94 of [[renal failure]] precipitated by injuries incurred when falling while pruning a tree.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|pp=508–511}} He was [[Cremation|cremated]] at [[Golders Green Crematorium]] on 6 November 1950. His ashes, mixed with those of Charlotte, were scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden.{{sfn|Holroyd|1993|p=515}}{{sfn|Tyson|1982|p=116}}