Last week came the disturbing news that Barrie's grave in Kirriemuir was vandalised, and stones removed to another part of the cemetery. However, this news seems to have refuelled the debate about the restoration and "embellishment" of his grave for his 150th anniversary in 2010. Despite Barrie's specific wish to be buried in the family grave and not to have any adornments on his tombstone, a wall was erected around it, with an even more controversial plaque. Barrie fans are now asking for the wall (and the infamous plaque) to be taken down altogether, not just to respect Barrie's wishes, but as a matter of taste, and have started a petition.

What do people on this forum think about this? What's your view?

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/grave-of-peter-pan-creator-jm-barrie-desecrated-1-3458057
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/kirriemuir-community-council-to-reinstate-to-its-former-condition-the-grave-of-sir-jm-barrie-and-remove-the-wall-and-plaque-built-in-2010

Today we spare a thought for Barrie, who was born 154 years ago. Happy birthday, James Matthew!

This topic has been moved to Peter Pan.

http://www.jmbarrie.co.uk/msgbrd/index.php?topic=2362.0

There doesn't seem to be any record or mention that Barrie was religious in his adult life or practised any religion, although he was baptised in the Free Church of Scotland (also referred to as the Wee Free) and brought up in that particular denomination of the Scottish Presbyterian church. I would guess that when Barrie moved to England as an adult, he wasn't bothered about religion - if he had been, it would have shown up in his works or deeds.

I doubt that Michael ever lived in the house, as he was up in Oxford at the time as a full time student. Unless of course he went down to stay during the academic holidays but I don't think there's any record of that.

Mackail does indeed mention that doctors suspected cancer, but this is never confirmed in his biography, or any other. Barrie had been suffering from severe pain in the spine, but doctors could not find what was the cause. Cynthia Asquith, in her own biography Portrait of Barrie also talks about "pains that either baffled diagnosis or were hopefully called neuritis" but makes no menion of cancer.  He was transferred to the nursing home in Manchester Street on 11 June, where he developed signs of broncho-pneumonia - which was probably the cause of his death, as he had become so weak from the undiagnosed condition. He died a week later, on 19 June.

Delighted to hear it was your suggestion that prompted the CIPFA to put up photographs of JM Barrie taken when he lived in his flat at the Adelphi. They did a good job and have them up in their board room, on the wall opposite the window with the amazing view.

I saw the play and enjoyed it. Both Ben Wishaw and Judi Dench were fantastic in their roles and I thought their experience in growing up with such inherited fame because of their names was beautifully expressed, in the different ways they lived through it. You could feel in particular that Peter was still very troubled by it and found it hard to shake the ghosts of the past (also very well portrayed by actors appearing as Peter Pan (not as a Disney version, thankfully), Alice, Dodgson and Barrie.

I wasn't sure however that anyone without a previous knowledge of the lives of the Llewelyn Davies boys and Alice Liddell would have understood the psychological turmoil experienced by them.

There was another post about this play a while back in this forum, which might also interest you.

I'd be interested to know what you think after you've read the script, as that would be quite a different experience from seeing it staged.

Indeed, the house situated at 8 Grenville Street is no longer there, having been pulled down in the late 30s and replaced by Downing Court in 1938. It might not look very impressive from the outside but by all accounts the flats inside are very nicely built. I don't know about any flourish of whimsy, but the mews mentioned by Nicholas have been called The Colonnade since the late 18th Century, when they were part of the Foundling Hospital who intended it as the only commercial development on their estate - so Barrie would definitely have known it as it is now, albeit with more shops and carriages. He would also have known the Horse Hospital, built in the 18th century and now Grade II listed. One last detail about The Colonnade: it had assembly rooms where Dr Roget, author of the famous Thesaurus and resident of Bloomsbury, used to lecture. Barrie specifically mentions in the first scene of Peter Pan that one of "the reason Bloomsbury is chosen [as the place where the Darlings lived] is that Mr Roget once lived there". 

The Cafe Romano has been there for many many years, and is probably a leftover from the thriving Italian community which settled in Bloomsbury and Clerkenwell in the late 19th century up to WW2.

As for the student hall of residence, this is International Hall, the largest of University of London's Students Hall, which was opened in 1962, replacing the original 18th Century houses which had been war damaged. There is no denying it is a grim building, but hopefully it will be refurbished or rebuilt more sympathetically one day...

Finally, may I try to correct Nicholas's impression of Bloomsbury? While it is undeniably full of students (it is the heart of University of London with all its colleges, after all) and full of tourists (being the home of the British Museum, the Dickens Museum, and close to the Soane Museum, King's Cross, St Pancras etc), it also has a thriving community with many local shops and lots of families living in the area, and an active historical association which ensured that Bloomsbury is now a conservation area and which treasures its literary heritage. I work in Bloomsbury and love it for its diversity, both in population and architecture (well, perhaps not the 60s stuff...).

(With thanks to Ricci de Freitas, chair of the Marchmont Street Association for all the historical information, to be included in his forthcoming book Tales of Brunswick Square.)