1856-1950, Irish playwright and critic. He revolutionized the Victorian stage, then dominated by artificial melodramas, by presenting vigorous dramas of ideas. The lengthy prefaces to Shaw's plays reveal his mastery of English prose. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In "Pygmalion" and other plays he showed a deep teacher appreciation and commitment to education.
A funny anecdote
Shaw was obsessed about the English language. He wanted to reform spelling rules so that there couldn't be any mistakes. Therefore English should become a "fonetically written" language, just like Spanish or Italian. There would only be one possible spelling for each sound, and viceversa. Now, to prove that English spelling was confuse, he would write on a blackboard:
G H O T I
And then he would ask the audience to read loud. He would then state with absolute solemnity that he had written the word "fish":
"Gh" like in "laughter".
"O" like in "women".
"Ti" like in "action".