English playwright and screenwriter Peter Shaffer was BOTD in 1926. Born in Liverpool to a middle-class Jewish family, he grew up in London with his twin brother Anthony, who also became a playwright. Educated at private schools, he won a scholarship to study history at Cambridge University. During World War Two, he was conscripted to work in coal mines as an alternative to military service. After the war, he worked in a bookstore and at the New York Public Library, writing in his spare time. His first play The Salt Land was produced for British television in 1955, followed by his first professionally produced stage play, Five Finger Exercise. Directed by John Gielgud, it had successful runs in London and on Broadway, establishing Schaffer’s reputation. His 1962 double bill The Private Ear and The Public Eye starred the incomparably camp pairing of Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams, followed by historical drama The Royal Hunt of the Sun, premiering at the new Royal National Theatre under the stewardship of Laurence Olivier. After moving to New York in the early 1970s, Shaffer became internationally successful with his play Equus, a drama about a psychiatrist attempting to treat a disturbed teenaged boy. After a two-year London run, it took Broadway by storm, winning Shaffer a Tony Award for best play. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1977 film adaptation, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. He is best known for his 1979 play Amadeus, imagining the relationship between potty-mouthed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his bitterly jealous rival Antonio Salieri. Premiering in London with Paul Schofield as Salieri and Simon Callow as Mozart, it transferred to Broadway with Ian McKellen and Tim Curry, winning Tonys for Shaffer and McKellen. Shaffer wrote the screenplay for the 1984 screen adaptation directed by Miloš Forman and starring Tom Hulce as Mozart. A critical and box office juggernaut, it dominated the 1986 Oscars, winning best picture, best screenplay for Shaffer and best actor for F. Murray Abraham as Salieri. His last major work, the 1987 comedy Lettice and Lovage, was written for Maggie Smith, who won a Tony Award for her role as an eccentric actress. Openly gay since forever, Shaffer was in relationships with composer Paul Giovanni, voice teacher Robert Leonard and Kevin Shancady. He died in 2016 aged 90, and was buried in Leonard’s grave in north London.