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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Saint Joan
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(1923) Play by George Bernard *Shaw, first produced in New York in 1923 and in London the following year with Sybil Thorndike in the title role. It follows the inspirational career of *Joan of Arc (who had been canonized only recently, in 1920) from her peasant beginnings, through her victories in battle against the English (in the *Hundred Years' War), to her capture, trial and execution. The 67-year-old playwright, who could argue any case by the agility of his intellect, was so inspired by his young illiterate teenage heroine, who could argue only one case by strength of conviction and by earthy commonsense, that he wrote his most powerful play, containing much forceful argument within a rich weave of comedy and tragedy.
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