Guide Note:
J.M. Barrie was a Scottish playwright and novelist whose best known play was Peter Pan, which was first presented in 1904 and the novel The Little White Bird which was published in 1902. When he was six, his brother David, his mother's favourite, died in a skating accident on the eve of his 14th birthday. From then on, J.M. Barrie did his best to replace his brother and gain his mother's attention. Many of J. M. Barrie’s stories were influenced by his mother and his own memories of Kirriemuir life. Barrie's lost childhood was re-awakened through the stories he wrote to the Llewelyn Davies boys and the games he played with them. This acquaintance became the inspiration to write Peter Pan, the imaginative story of the boy who never grew up and stays young and happy forever. The movie Finding Neverland is openly acknowledged as inspired by true and biographical events.
Fast Facts:
- Born: May 9, 1860
- Hometown: Kirriemuir, Scotland
- 9th child of ten
- Full name: James Matthew Barrie
- Worked as a journalist for the Nottingham Journal
- He was short and slight
- Married - had no children and later divorced
- Guardian of the Llewelyn Davies boys
- Friends with Conan Doyle
- Died in 1937
