   christopher fry (18 december 1907 â 30 june 2005) was an english poet and playwright. he is best known for his verse dramas, notably the lady's not for burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. ==biography== ===early life=== fry was born as arthur hammond harris in bristol, the son of charles john harris, a master builder who retired early to work full-time as a licensed lay reader in the church of england, and his wife emma marguerite fry hammond harris. while still young, he took his motherâs maiden name because, on very tenuous grounds, he believed her to be related to the 19th-century quaker prison reformer elizabeth fry.the times obituary he adopted elizabeth fry's faith, and became a quaker. after attending bedford modern school, where he wrote amateur plays, he became a schoolteacher, working at the bedford froebel kindergarten and hazelwood school in limpsfield, surrey. in the 1920s he met the writer robert gittings, who became a lifelong friend.tolley, g., gittings, robert william victor (1911â1992) in odnb online (subscription required), accessed 10 august 2008 ===career=== fry gave up his school career in 1932 to found the tunbridge wells repertory players, which he ran for three years, directing the english premiere of george bernard shawâs village wooing in 1934. as a curtain raiser, he put on a revised version of a show he wrote when he was a schoolboy called the peregrines. he also wrote the music for she shall have music in 1935. his play about dr. thomas john barnardo, the founder of childrenâs homes, toured in a fund-raising amateur production in 1935 and 1936, including in its cast a young deborah kerr. his professional career began to take off when he was commissioned by the vicar of steyning, west sussex, to write a play cel
1907_births 2005_deaths British_conscientious_objectors Christian_humanists Converts_to_Quakerism English_Quakers English_conscientious_objectors English_dramatists_and_playwrights English_pacifists Modernist_theatre People_educated_at_Bedford_Modern_School