Second star to the right, straight on till morning -J M Barrie

If you wander along the Lancaster walk in Kensington Gardens London, you almost get a feeling that takes you back in time.  Even though the city around is ever changing, Kensington Gardens have been there for hundreds of years.  You may even see the same things that James Barrie saw when he lived in Bayswater Road London.

100 Bayswater Road, London, W2 3HJ 

James Matthew Barrie was born on the 9th of May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. He was the 9th child of 10. As he grew up, Barrie was an avid reader who was fond of the ‘penny dreadfuls’ that were more affordable than the work by writers such as Dickens. Barrie wanted to be a writer, but his family wanted him to have a profession in the Ministry.  I for one am pleased he got his own way.

Barrie wrote several plays and stories, but the most known is of course Peter Pan, the story of a boy and a fairy and an ordinary London family. The character of Peter Pan was invented to entertain George and Jack Llewelyn Davies. Barrie would say to amuse them, that their little brother Peter could fly. He claimed that babies were birds before they were born and parents put bars on nursery windows to keep the little ones from flying away. This grew into a tale of a baby boy who did fly away, a boy who never grew up, a boy who took his friends on a marvelous adventure.

Peter Pan in Kirriemuir Scotland

The story has been depicted many times on stage and in films and there are statues of Peter Pan in Kirriemuir Scotland and Kensington Park London. 

Peter Pan Kensington Park London

For me, Peter Pan wasn’t just about staying young forever and playing games in a fantasy land filled with indians and pirates, it was about self-belief.  J M Barrie delighted children with a world where they could be children forever and make magic happen just by believing, which in turn delights me to say that, Once upon a time in London, a writer by the name of James Matthew Barrie taught us that if we truly believe we can fly, then we will.