Irish playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics, George Bernard Shaw is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) as well as an Academy Award (1938). Despite this, the Irishman rejected all other awards that were attempted to be bestowed upon him - including a knighthood, which was never officially offered to him but that he was sounded out for during the 1930s and 1940s. Best-known for his film Pygmalion and his play Saint Joan, Shaw was an avid socialist and Fabian society member. Upon rejecting the Order of Merit in 1946, Shaw commented that "merit" in writing could only be earned posthumously by how authors are remembered.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
