06 January 2011

Peter Pan for my niece Alexis

I bought my niece Alexis an illustrated copy of Peter and Wendy for her birthday and will give it to her tonight. I've written an abridged version of this inside the book for her:

In 2006, I visited the house where J.M. Barrie wrote Peter and Wendy (image above). I was trying to borrow a dagger once owned by T. E. Lawrence that was given to Kathleen Scott who was a sculptor. Her son, Wayland Hilton Young, second Baron Kennett owned the dagger and the house and had known Barrie when he was a small boy. He told me that Barrie had looked after Kathleen and Wayland’s older brother Peter in the house after the death of their father Captain Robert Falcon Scott in the Antarctic. Baron Kennett told me that Barrie had written Peter and Wendy in the house and as I looked out towards their backyard I could almost see fairies buzzing about in their trees.

Baron Kennet didn't lend me the dagger for an exhibition in Australia as he thought it was too far away. My visit to the house and the stories I heard there I will never forget.

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