THERE is more to this man than I realised. The chap in the middle with the lugubrious demeanour and a scattering of confetti on his coat is Sir James Barrie, more commonly known as JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan.
He is pictured here in St Andrews in 1922, about to give his address to students as the university’s Lord Rector. A shy man, he described his address as the only public speech he hoped to make, and that the journey from the station, where the male students unhitched the horses from his carriage and pulled it themselves, was like being a royalist in a tumbril en route to the guillotine.
His speech held the normally boisterous students spellbound for over an hour. His theme was courage, and how the students needed the courage to challenge the views of their elders otherwise they may be led once again into a world war.
As he so poignantly put it: “Look around and see how much share Youth has now the war is over. You got a handsome share while it lasted.
“If you prefer to leave things as they are we will probably fail you again.”
He cautioned them to beware of people who mindlessly supported military action, and used the memorable line: “Hell hath no fury like a non-combatant.”
At one point he even brought out and read from a letter that Captain Scott of Antarctic fame had written to him while he was dying in his tent.
What an occasion that speech must have been.
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