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The play, 'Peter Pan or the boy who wouldn't grow
up' was written by the Scottish novelist and
playwright, J. M. Barrie (1860–1937), and
first presented on the stage at the Duke of
York's Theatre on 27th December 1904.
In 1911, Barrie adapted the play into a book,
'Peter Pan and Wendy'. It is a story of a
mischievous little boy who spends his
never-ending childhood adventuring on the island
of Neverland as leader of the Lost Boys. The
story features some fantastical elements, one of
them being that Peter has the ability to fly, and
his friends include a fairy named Tinker
Bell.
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In both the play and the novel, Peter often
visits the "real world" of Kensington, England to
listen in on bedtime stories told by Mrs. Mary
Darling to her children. One night, Peter is
spotted and, while trying to escape, he loses his
shadow.
On returning to claim his shadow, Peter wakes
Mary's daughter, Wendy Darling.
When Wendy succeeds in re-attaching his shadow to
him, Peter takes a fancy to her and invites her
to Neverland to be a mother to his gang of Lost
Boys, the children who are lost in Kensington
Gardens. Wendy agrees, and her brothers John and
Michael go along.
The dangerous and magical flight to Neverland is
followed by many adventures. The children are
blown out of the air by a cannon and Wendy is
nearly killed by the Lost Boy Tootles.
Peter and the Lost Boys build a little house for
Wendy to live in while she recuperates. Soon,
John and Michael adopt the ways of the Lost Boys,
while Wendy plays the role of mothering them, all
the while provoking the jealousy of Tinker Bell,
Tiger Lily, and the mermaids.
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Peter is often oblivious, concentrating on real
and make-believe adventures and on taunting the
pirate Captain Hook. Later follow adventures at
the Mermaids' Lagoon, the near deaths of Tinker
Bell and Peter, a violent pirate/Indian massacre,
and a climactic confrontation with Peter's
nemesis, the pirate Captain Hook of the pirate
ship the Jolly Roger.
In the end, Wendy decides that her place is at
home, much to the joy of her heartsick mother.
Wendy then brings all the boys back to London.
Peter remains in Neverland, promising to return
and take Wendy back with him once a year to help
him with his spring cleaning.
Peter Pan first appeared in print in a 1902 book
called 'The Little White Bird', a fictionalised
version of Barrie's relationship with the
Llewelyn Davies children, and was then used in a
very successful stage play, 'Peter Pan, or The
Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up', which premiered in
London on December 27, 1904.
In 1906, the portion of 'The Little White Bird'
which featured Peter Pan was published as the
book 'Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens', with
illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Barrie then
adapted the play into the 1911 novel 'Peter and
Wendy' (most often now published simply as 'Peter
Pan').
There are seven statues of Peter Pan playing a
set of pipes, cast from a mould by sculptor
George Frampton, following an original commission
by Barney. The statues are in Kensington Gardens
in London'; Liverpool'; Brussels; Camden, New
Jersey, United States; Perth, Western Australia,
Australia; Toronto, Canada; and Bowring Park in
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. A new statue of
Peter Pan was commissioned by Great Ormond Street
Hospital to celebrate J.M. Barrie's generous gift
of the copyright and was unveiled by former Prime
Minister, James Callaghan, in 2000
'Peter Pan' has been adapted for stage and screen
many times. Of particular note are the popular TV
version and the animated film version. The 1954
stage version was re-staged for television by
NBC. The production was so well received that two
additional live versions were broadcast. Mary
Martin played TV's Peter Pan for the third time
on December 8, 1960 and it is this version, also
telecast by NBC, and recorded on colour
videotape, that was repeated in 1963, 1966 and
1973.
On February 5, 1953, Disney released its
animated film version of Peter Pan with music by
Sammy Cahn, Frank Churchill, Sammy Fain, and Ted
Sears. 15-year-old film actor Bobby Driscoll
supplied the voice of Peter. In the film, a
visual reference is made to Peter's ties to the
Pan of Greek mythology by showing him
absent-mindedly playing the Pan pipes which the
nature spirit was famous for playing. This
version contained little of the original dialogue
from the play or its novelization.
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Kensington Palace is situated on the boundary of
Hyde Park in Kensington Gardens. The original
early 17th-century building was constructed in
the then village of Kensington as Nottingham
House for the Earl of Nottingham. It was acquired
from his heir, who was Secretary of State to
William III in 1689, because the King wanted a
residence near London but away from the smoky air
of the capital because he was asthmatic. A
private road was laid from the Palace to Hyde
Park Corner, broad enough for several carriages
to travel abreast and part of this survives today
as Rotten Row.
The palace was improved and extended by Sir
Christopher Wren with pavilions attached to each
corner of the central block. When Wren
re-oriented the house to face west, he built
north and south wings to flank the approach and
an archway surmounted by a clock tower.
Nevertheless, as a private domestic retreat, it
was referred to as Kensington House, rather than
'Palace'. The walled kitchen gardens supplied
fruits and vegetables for the Court of St.
James's.
For seventy years Kensington Palace was the
favored residence of British monarchs, although
the official seat of the Court was, and remains,
at St. James's which has not been the actual
royal residence in London since the 17th century.
In 1702 William suffered and was brought to
Kensington Palace, where he shortly died. After
William III's death following a fall from a horse
at Hampton Court the palace became the residence
of Queen Anne. Sir John Vanbrugh designed the
Orangery for her in 1704 and a magnificent
Baroque parterre 30 acre (121,000 m²) garden
was laid out by Henry Wise, whose nursery was
nearby at Brompton.
George I spent lavishly on new royal apartments
from 1718 onwards. William Kent painted a
staircase and some ceilings. In 1722 he designed
the Cupola Room, the principal state room.
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The last reigning monarch to use Kensington
Palace was George II. After George II's death
there in 1760, the palace was used by minor
royalty. In 1819 the Cupola Room was the site of
the christening of Princess Victoria, who had
been born at Kensington, in what is now the North
Drawing Room The young daughter of the Duke of
Kent was living in the palace with her widowed
mother when in 1837 she was told of her accession
to the throne as Queen.
Queen Mary (grandmother of the present Queen) was
also born at Kensington Palace (in 1867).
 In 1981
apartments 8 and 9 were combined to create the
London residence of the newly married Prince and
Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana, and it
remained the official residence of Diana,
Princess of Wales after her marriage and until
the day of her death. Her sons, Prince William
and Prince Harry, went to local nursery and
pre-preparatory schools in nearby Notting
Hill.
On the south side of Kensington Palace, just
within the entry gatesgates is a bronze statue of
William III given to Edward VII by his nephew,
Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1907 (above
right).
To the east of the palace is a statue of Queen
Victoria (left) erected by her daughter,
Princess Louise, to celebrate fifty years of her
mother's reign.
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The Albert Memorial (right and below)
was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of
her beloved husband, Prince Albert of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who died of typhoid in 1861.
It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in
the Gothic revival style.
Opened in 1872, with the statue of Albert
ceremonially later placed within it in 1875, the
memorial consists of an ornate canopy or
pavilion. This is surrounded by the elaborate
sculptural Frieze of Parnassus, which depicts 169
individual composers, architects, poets,
painters, and sculptors.
There are two allegorical sculpture programs i.e.
four groups depicting Victorian industrial arts
and sciences (agriculture, commerce, engineering
and manufacturing) and four other groups
representing Europe, Asia, Africa and the
Americas at each of the four corners, each
continent-group including several ethnographic
figures and a large animal - a camel for Africa,
a buffalo for the Americas, an elephant for Asia
and a bull for Europe.
The sculptor Henry Hugh Armstead coordinated this
massive effort together with several Royal
Academy artists including Hamo Thornycroft.
By the late 1990s the Memorial had fallen into a
state of some decay. A thorough restoration was
carried out by Mowlem which included cleaning,
repainting and re-gilding the entire monument as
well as carrying out structural repairs.
In the process the cross on top of the monument,
which had been put on sideways during an earlier
restoration attempt, was returned to its correct
position. Some of the restoration, including
repairs to damaged friezes, were of limited
success.
The centrepiece of the Memorial, a seated figure
of Prince Albert is now resplendent with gold
leaf. For eighty years previously the statue had
been covered in black paint.
Various theories had existed that it was
deliberately blackened during World War I to
prevent it becoming a target for Zeppelin bombing
raids or domestic anti-German sentiment. However,
English Heritage's research prior to the
restoration suggests that the black coating
predates 1914 and may have been a response to
atmospheric pollution that had destroyed the
original gold leaf surface.
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A visit to the Royal Albert Hall, situated
directly across the road (Kensington Gore)
from the Albert Memorial, is
described on the following page.
Please click on the 'Next' button (below
right)
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