Peter Pan - what Peter Pan means to Great Ormond Street Hospital

"It was he who put me up to the little thing I did for the hospital." J M Barrie

Sir James Barrie was a huge supporter of Great Ormond Street Hospital despite him and his wife being childless. In 1929 he was approached to sit on a committee to help buy some land so that the hospital could build a much needed new wing. Barrie declined to serve on the committee but said that he "hoped to find another way to help".

Two months later, the hospital board was stunned to learn that Sir James had handed over all the rights to Peter Pan (this was later confirmed in his Will). At a Guildhall dinner later that year Barrie, as host, claimed that Peter Pan had been a patient in Great Ormond Street Hospital and that "it was he who put me up to the little thing I did for the hospital."

So began the enduring link between the author and the children of Great Ormond Street Hospital. Peter Pan can be found throughout the hospital - there's a Peter Pan Ward, a Barrie Wing, a bronze statue of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell at the hospital entrance, a Peter Pan café in the reception area, a plaque dedicated to Barrie in the hospital chapel, and numerous Peter Pan artworks, murals and rare photographs dotted around the building. The hospital archive museum houses The Peter Pan Gallery which includes some rare photography and editions of the book in many languages, from all over the world.

To learn more about the history of Peter Pan and Great Ormond Street Hospital, visit http://www.gosh.org/about_us/peterpan/history.html

To find out more about JM Barrie, visit www.jmbarrie.co.uk