When Jamie’s 13-year-old brother was killed in a road traffic accident whilst riding his bike to school, his mother was devastated and locked herself in her bedroom for days on end, broken hearted. That’s when Jamie decided that he would have to replace his brother and the threads of an intricate fantasy were woven. He became obsessed with imitating his brother’s personal characteristics: he wore the same clothes, practised his walk and even learnt to whistle like him. He became his mother’s constant companion, deciding that to stay as a child would mean freedom from sorrow and responsibility.

Jamie continued to resist adulthood and it was as if his physical body joined in the resistance. At the age of seventeen he was barely five foot tall and in later years children were always among his closest friends. I suppose this was not surprising, as since six years old he had idolised childhood and rejected maturity. In fact the boy, who sought eternal youth as a defence against tragedy, never did grow up entirely.

In later life he became a successful writer of children’s books and became famous for creating, “Never-Never-Land,” that ageless island of dreams where little boys never grow up. Who was this child like adult? Jamie eventually became Sir James Barrie, the well known author of one of the most popular children’s books ever written, it was called “Peter Pan.”

Sadly, more recently we had the famous pop star called Michael Jackson, who also found it difficult to cope with life as an adult; he never really grew up and retreated into a childhood fantasy world, which was based on James Barrie’s “Never-Never-Land.”

“When I was a child, I thought as a child and behaved as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things.”

“Perfectionists have the hardest time with beginnings, because they are always waiting for the perfect moment.”