J. M. Barrie's Birthday
Next: May 9, 2027
Never grow up, at least for today.
The story
Where it comes from
James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, a weaving town in Scotland, the ninth of ten children, and this Story marks his birthday. He became a journalist, novelist and playwright in London. Walking his dog in Kensington Gardens, he befriended the Llewelyn Davies boys, and the games he invented for them grew into the story of a boy who would not grow up. Peter Pan opened as a play at the Duke of York's Theatre in London in 1904. In 1929 Barrie gave the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance, but his birthplace in Kirriemuir is now a museum, and every UK performance of Peter Pan still supports the hospital. It is a lovely day to read the story aloud to a child, or to do something generous without telling anyone how much.
Did you know
- Barrie asked that the sum Peter Pan raises for the hospital never be made public, and the hospital has kept that wish.
- When the copyright ran out at the end of 1987, Parliament wrote a special exception into the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 so that the hospital would receive Peter Pan royalties in the UK for ever.
- A statue of Peter Pan stands at the hospital's entrance, and the Tinkerbell on his arm is said to be London's smallest statue.
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