held this bastion of creative fellowship together. On fellowship, the example of 'The Inklings' comes to mind; Tolkein, Lewis and chums clashing tankards and tapping the dottle from their pipes in the Eagle and Child whilst whiling away the day with discourse on orcs and talking lions. But one of the strangest ties comes with JM Barrie (of Peter Pan fame) and his cricket team, the mighty Allahakbarries. About two weeks after reading a little bit about a sports team made up of the creators of Sherlock Holmes, Winnie the Pooh, Jeeves and Peter Pan I stumbled across a copy of Kevin Tefler's book Peter Pan's First XI (The Extraordinary Story of JM Barrie's Cricket Team). A chance occurance if ever there was.
From the book : The creator of Peter Pan, JM Barrie, was a hugely enthusiatic cricketer of very little talent. That didn't stop him from leading perhaps the most extraordinary and comical amateur cricket team ever to take the field. Some of the twentieth centuries most famous writers including arthur Conan Doyle, AA Milne, PG Wodehouse and Jerome K Jerome turned out for Barrie's team, the Allahakbarries. I have not yet read the book, but by all account, albeit far from a paragon tome of historical significance it provides a colouful glimpse of golden Edwardian summers and humerous annecdotes of a keen, cricket loving Scotsman.
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