On the 150th anniversary of JM Barrie's birth, an amazing find that sheds new light on the Kirriemuir-born author

Published on Wednesday 5 May 2010 20:24

WHERE do you start when you want something special for a birthday celebration of one of the most famous authors in the world? Not, you would think, in the back of a cupboard. Yet for the 150th birthday of JM Barrie, that's where the hunt for treasure took place.

• Picture: Hulton/Getty

The creator of Peter Pan was born 150 years ago on Sunday, and to mark the anniversary a priceless manuscript of one of the most famous children's stories ever written is being shown to the public for the first time. John McKenna, property manager of Barrie's birthplace in Kirriemuir, where the manuscript was found, says: "It was an absolute crown jewel hidden away in a cupboard."

The creation by Kirriemuir's most famous son has been adapted countless times, perhaps most famously by Walt Disney in the 1950s. Barrie himself has also been the subject of much fascination and attracted similar exposure in his portrayal by Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland in 2004.

McKenna says that a key part of the celebrations, which start in Kirriemuir tomorrow, was to finally get the work that sparked the worldwide acclaim and interest on display for the public after it had gathered dust for decades.

"If you put something as priceless as that on display, how do you protect it? We felt it was overdue to go on display, and we now have the appropriate security measures in place. The public can now see for the first time one of Barrie's original manuscripts."

Peter Pan was written as a play and performed for the first time in 1904. The manuscript now on display contains handwritten notes by the author. For McKenna, it was an emotional moment to have the work on display at Kirriemuir. "Everybody throughout the world knows this name, and here's this original book," he says. "Every time I think about it and every time I see it, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It really is a tour de force of literature."

A whole series of events is taking place as part of Barrie 2010: A Celebration of Imagination, but central is a revamp of his birthplace, with the manuscript and new information about how the author's life's work was influenced by the former weaver's cottage at 9 Brechin Road, Kirriemuir. This, the National Trust for Scotland hopes, will lead to an increase in visitors for years to come.

McKenna says: "You can understand why Barrie loved this little cottage. When you go into the kitchen area it is the little tiny stools sitting round the fire with his mum's chair. She would fire his imagination with fantastic tales of heroism and brave deeds, which would encourage Barrie to follow other authors and write his own stories."

Next to the kitchen (where the children slept top and tail, four to the bed) is the bedroom of Barrie's parents, which now contains his christening robe. This was loaned by Barrie's family to many parents in Kirriemuir, and the National Trust for Scotland is currently trying to find descendants of those who wore it.

It was not just the arrival of Barrie which excited his family and neighbours 150 years ago. McKenna explains: "Barrie was born on the 9 May, 1860, and he makes note that his mother had two significant things happen. She had the delivery of her latest son and also the delivery of six horsehair chairs, of which there was equal excitement in the village. People visited Barrie, the baby, and the new chairs."

What would Barrie have thought of all this attention? McKenna believes he would "have been both embarrassed and delighted".

"He was an extremely humble man and he would probably be embarrassed about the adulation and the following that he has, but delighted, because the National Trust for Scotland has put so much tender loving care into representing the property for future generations to enjoy."

Lis Hill is the project co-ordinator of Barrie 2010: A Celebration of Imagination. She says that, as well as Peter Pan, there is so much else to celebrate about Barrie.

"To millions of people worldwide, when they hear the name Peter Pan, they immediately translate it into the iconic images that we got from the 1953 Walt Disney Peter Pan.

"Part of my job has been to remind people, or tell them for the first time, that Peter Pan isn't necessarily a children's work. It is universal in age, because it happens on so many levels."

The interest comes from devoted fans and academics alike, many of them wanting to find out who was the real JM Barrie, something on which Lis Hill has her own opinion: "He was one tiny man – and he was very small, you know, he only ever got to about 5ft 2in – but it's the interest in the man. Barrie himself is Peter Pan – he did not grow up, and that is because he did not want to grow up."

There is more to Barrie than his work on his most famous piece, she says: "The body of his work is so much larger and wider than Peter Pan. He was a jolly good writer. There is a genuineness about his work that people respond to and for some reason that does not seem to have gone out of date."

Why should Scotland celebrate Barrie? "The work that he has done has lived on for a very, very long time – he died in 1937 – and in that time, although people say he went away from Kirrriemuir, he always came back to Scotland and to Kirriemuir.

"He was offered the chance of being buried in Westminster Abbey, but he said: 'No, I'm going back to Kirriemuir'."

She added: "He himself had some very strong feelings for Scotland."

At a time when we are facing worldwide financial crisis, why should we bother putting resources into the birthplace of a children's author? McKenna is in no doubt. "If we stop right now because of a short-term financial problem, then that's the most narrow-sighted thing we will ever do in our lives. People have put these properties in the care of the National Trust for Scotland for future generations.

"I took this job on to put something back into the community, and in job satisfaction terms it is ten out of ten. I am fully committed to Scotland's heritage and preserving it for future generations."

OFF TO A FLYING START

&#149 Events being held as part of Barrie 2010: A Celebration of Imagination from tomorrow until 23 May include:

&#149 Saturday and Sunday: Geraldine McCaughrean, author of Peter Pan in Scarlet, will sign copies of her work at venues throughout Kirriemuir and answer questions.

&#149 Sunday: The new exhibition at JM Barrie's birthplace is officially opened, with Kirriemuir man and descendant of Barrie, Harry Jamieson, cutting the ribbon.

&#149 Sunday: Andrew Birkin, author of JM Barrie and the Lost Boys, will be interviewed by Scottish broadcaster and author Lesley Riddoch at The Glens & Kirriemuir Old Parish Church.

&#149 Wednesday: There will be an exhibition of christening gowns and a selection of Barrie memorabilia at St Andrew's Church in Kirriemuir.

&#149 Friday 21 May, and Saturday 22 May: Splinters Productions will present Home to Neverland, a new play in which Barrie, as the narrator, links excerpts from his plays, at Kirriemuir Town Hall.

&#149 For more information go to www.barrie2010.org.uk and to learn about Barrie's birthplace go to www.nts.org.uk/Property/37/