THE MAGIC of Peter Pan was brought to life for Angus youngsters yesterday by the woman who took him into modern times.

Author Geraldine McCaughrean, behind the official Peter Pan in Scarlet sequel, captivated children during a tour taking in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ireland ...and Kirriemuir!

A visit to the birthplace of Peter’s creator was a must for the writer who signed copies of the book and gave a reading to eager fans. She was so caught up by the enthusiasm of her young following she missed her train from Dundee back to Edinburgh and had to catch a later one.

She called into Kirriemuir dressed as a pirate to celebrate the launch of the paperback version of the escapades of the boy who never grew up. Children sat in silence as she read passages from Peter Pan in Scarlet, then bombarded her with questions.

“Some of them picked me up on my mistakes,” she said. “One little girl asked me why I said the characters couldn’t fly without their shadows when Peter had done so before. She had obviously read the original and she was all of seven!

“I’m so impressed at how knowledgeable they are about Peter Pan and J. M. Barrie.”

She admitted the visit to the cottage where Barrie was born and brought up left its own magic touch after spotting an unusual item.

“The most uncanny thing was to see a clarinet on the window sill that he had bid for at an auction,” she said.

“I had made the clarinet a big thing in the sequel and to see it at his cottage was like a little whisper of him in my ear.”

The characters have grown up in the Scarlet novel, with Slightly Darling now the Honourable Slightly who plays the clarinet in a night club.

Her trip to Angus summed up the hectic 18 months since she won a hard-fought competition to write the sequel.

She added, “I did realise when I won the competition that it would change my life and it certainly has.”

The cottage is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, which jumped at the chance to host the author.

Fiona Caldwell of NTS said, “There has been a steady stream of youngsters coming along. It’s lovely to see such interest being shown.”