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Peter Levin Shaffer, was born May 15, 1926, in Liverpool, England -
Peter Shaffer worked as a conscript in the coal mines in England from 1944 to 1947; that is, during the last year of World War II and the immediate postwar period. -
He graduated from Trinity College of Cambridge University in 1950. -
He joined with his fraternal twin, Anthony, to publish the first of three mystery novels, Woman in the Wardrobe, under the joint pseudonym of Peter Anthony. -
In 1951 his first radio play, The Prodigal Father, was presented on the BBC, and his initial venture into a television drama -
He and Anthony then published How Doth the Little Crocodile in 1952. -
Shaffer and Anthony 3 years later realized Withered Murder in 1955 -
In 1958 Shaffer had his first great theatrical success with Five Finger Exercise, which opened in London -
Private Ear and The Public Eye opened in London in 1962 -
Shaffer had begun writing screenplays in 1963, collaborating with Peter Brook on Lord of the Flies, and added The Pad (and How to Use It), -
His next great stage success occurred with The Royal Hunt of the Sun, which opened at Chichester in 1964 -
In 1970 Shaffer's most American play, The Battle of Shrivings opened in London. -
One of Shaffer's most famous plays, Equus, was published in 1973 and won him numerous awards -
1975 Tony Award for best play, and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. -
Shaffer's introduction to the 1982 volume The Collected Plays of Peter Shaffer is most helpful to an understanding of his work. Published during the height of Shaffer's popularity -
In 1985 came Yonadab, based on a story of incest in the Old Testament book of Samuel but prompted by Dan Jacobson's novel The Rape of Tomar -
Shaffer's play Lettice and Lovage was nominated for another Tony Award, and for her performance in it, Dame Maggie Smith won the Tony Award for best actress after three nominations in 1990 -
Shaffer received the William Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater in 1992 -
In Roundabout Theater in 1993, the consensus of critics and viewers was that White Liars had to be endured in order to get into Black Comedy. -
While on a trip to Ireland shortly after his 90th birthday, Shaffer died on 6 June 2016 at a hospice facility in Curraheen, County Cork. -
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/english-literature-20th-cent-present-biographies/peter-shaffer https://www.gradesaver.com/author/peter-shaffer https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/peter-shaffer https://stageagent.com/writers/73/peter-shaffer https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/06/sir-peter-shaffer-obituary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shaffer