The operas of William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan are an institution. Hesketh Pearson’s biography is of the two men who together formed a famous partnership and he is interested in them as individual, quite different personalities – one of the explanations behind their equally famous quarrel. Pearson describes their lives rather than criticise their works. As the operas such as ‘The Mikado’ and ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ live on the stage, here their authors come to life in a biography.

First published in 1942, Hesketh Pearson’s much lauded biography has been hailed as the standard work on George Bernard Shaw. Pearson was fortunate to have written it with the close cooperation of Shaw. Not only did Shaw check and correct all the facts, contribute and authenticate or reject anecdotes but he supplied what he referred to as ‘unique private history’ unavailable to others. The recorded conversations Shaw had with Pearson bring to life Shaw’s vivacity, charisma and prominence. ...

The American painter, James McNeil Whistler, is the subject of Hesketh Pearson’s biography. Whistler’s personality aroused more controversy in the nineteenth-century art world than that of anyone else. He is best known for his twilight scenes or ‘nocturnes’ such as the Thames at Battersea and for the famous portrait of his mother. His work was also to significantly influence interior decoration. But Whistler was as famous for his biting wit, fights, quarrels and sharp attacks on art critic...

Conan Doyle (1859-1930) will always be remembered for the character of Sherlock Holmes, but he was a prolific writer—of short stories, of science fiction and historical fiction1including The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard. In his comprehensive biography, Pearson considers how his life is reflected in his books—including his background as a doctor and his enduring (and public) belief in spiritualism.

A sympathetic and illuminating portrait of the creator of one of the most famous characters in English literature. Hesketh Pearson was interested in the many contradictions in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – the conventional Scottish doctor who pursued the occult, was interested in spiritualism and fairies, invented the immensely popular Sherlock Holmes yet came in time to detest his creation. Pearson’s very readable portrait is by turns admiring, witty and moving.

An Irishman, like so many other great British generals, John Nicholson received a cadetship in the Bengal Infantry at the age of sixteen. Apart from one short visit to England, the rest of his life was spent in India. The Afghan and Sikh wars of the eighteen-forties brought out the titanic powers of a character that "flowered in action," and before he was thirty, "Nikal Seyn" was a legend throughout India, a god to the Sikhs and to certain fakirs who called themselves Nikal-seynites, and a...

Quite the most picturesque personality in the long line of French monarchy, Henry IV combined physical bravery with mental enlightenment to a degree unmatched among rulers of mankind. He envisaged and worked for the union of the Christian religions and the brotherhood of the European nations, for the concord of sects and the amity of states.Three and a half centuries ago his ideals were considered chimerical: now the' are regarded as the only hope for the survival of civilisation.

Few personalities in the history of literature have aroused so much interest as that of Oscar Wilde, yet the essentials of his nature are still not recognized and we are left to catch glimpses of the real man in the scattered reminiscences of the period.Here, at last, is the whole life of the man who was probably the most delightful and witty conversationalist the world has ever seen. Hesketh Pearson has succeeded in presenting Oscar Wilde as he was at the Café Royale in London, and...

This book, first published in 1951, is a Postscript to Bernard Shaw: His Life and Personality—Hesketh Pearson's biography of Bernard Shaw, published in 1942, which became the standard work on Bernard Shaw. It was unique among other books on the same subject because Shaw himself gave every possible help to his biographer, allowing him to quote whatever he wished from published and unpublished correspondence. Shaw answered every question put to him and willingly revealed a great deal of info...

Deservedly one of the outstanding biographers of our time, Hesketh Pearson turns in this book to perhaps the most fascinating, perplexing and dramatic figure of the Victorian age—a man who was equally famous as statesman, author and wit.Disraeli began political life with everything against him—his race, his disturbing wit, his love of pageantry and deliberately extravagant appearance, his passionate devotion to the traditions of aristocracy, coupled with a romantic temperament alien...

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond.In 1901, Max Beerbohm wrote of Bernard Shaw "As a personality he is immortal."Bernard Shaw worked with renowned English actor, director and author Hesketh Pearson in the writing of this great biography, which was first publishe...

'You are a genuine soaker in Shakespeare, and have not read him as a task. You have him by heart.'—Bernard Shaw wrote in a letter to Hesketh Pearson.Before he became a well-known biographer, Hesketh Pearson was an actor. Few facts are known about Shakespeare, but with an actor's eye and a supreme self-confidence Pearson has drawn a recognisable portrait of Shakespeare the man—even telling us the colour of his hair and of his predilection for black-haired women. The plays and poems a...