Bulletin
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for updates and corrections to the 2nd Edition.
Item: Walk 11
"Take a Stroll in Residential Kensington and Holland
Park" takes you by #23 Camden Hill Square (p. 180), which
was the home of the Llewelyn Davies family, whose five children
inspired J.M. Barrie’s most famous play, Peter Pan.
An article in the
Chicago Tribune on 1/22/04 adds some information new to me
about the Davies family and their children.
The year 2004 marks
the 100th Anniversary of the opening of J. M. Barrie’s
Peter Pan.
It is noted that the Peter Pan character first appeared in
a 1902 novel titled The Little White Bird” and that
the play itself opened on December 24, 1904 at the Duke of
York's theatre in London. There is speculation that the abundance
of "death" and "separation" suggestions
in the play come from two main sources. First Barrie was strongly
affected by the death of an older brother who was killed at
the age of 14 in a skating accident. In 1897, as an adult,
the barely five foot tall Barrie met three of the Davies children
in Kensington Gardens. Shortly after, their parents died of
cancer and subsequently Barrie adopted all five of the Davies
children.
Barrie's own marriage
ended in divorce and produced no children.
In 1929 Barrie
donated the copyright of "Peter Pan"to London’s
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children where the royalties
continue to this day supporting research and equipment.
Correction:
In the comments about the Duke of York’s Theatre on
p. 198 Peter Pan is mentioned as running in 1905. Above article
cites opening as late December of 1904 so 3rd edition should
make note of that.
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