Editing George Bernard Shaw (section)

===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}}