Peter Pan's First Xi

Kevin Telfer

Hodder & Stoughton, 2011 - Biography & Autobiography - 344 pages

The creator of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie, was a hugely enthusiastic cricketer of very little talent. That didn't stop him from leading perhaps the most extraordinary amateur cricket team ever to have taken the field. Some of the twentieth century's most famous writers including A. A. Milne, P. G. Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome, regularly turned out for Barrie's team between 1890 and 1913. This very Edwardian vision of village cricket was only brought to an end by the First World War.
Those years of golden summers were recounted in Barrie's letters and journals, many revealed here for the first time. Cricket lovers will identify with Barrie's attempts to assemble a team of competent players.
In PETER PAN'S FIRST XI, Kevin Telfer weaves together cricket, literature, history, humour and biography to create an entertaining account of this little-known band of cricketing Peter Pans - and the age in which they lived.

About the author

Kevin Telfer is the author of three books including The Remarkable Story of Great Ormond Street Hospital (2008), where he first found out about J. M. Barrie and the Allahakbarries due to Barrie's fascinating connection with the hospital. He has written for the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The Idler.He was rather more athletic than Barrie as a childhood cricketer but still never managed a score of more than 12 in a competitive match and last played when he was seventeen years old. Nonetheless, he has a lifelong love of listening to cricket on the radio.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Peter Pan's First Xi
• Author: Kevin Telfer
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2011
• ISBN: 0340919469, 9780340919460
• Length: 344 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures; History / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century; History / General; History / Social History; Literary Criticism / Children's & Young Adult Literature; Sports & Recreation / Cricket; Sports & Recreation / General; Sports & Recreation / History