Madge burnand biography of george
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P.L. Travers
(1899-1996)
Who Was P.L. Travers?
P.L. Travers' rik fantasy life propelled her to write stories and poems at an early age, and after a brief stint in the theater, she moved to London, England, to pursue a literary life, hobnobbing with Irish poets such as William Butler poet. The Mary Poppins tales sprang from Travers entertaining young visitors, combined with a love of mythology. The Disney film Mary Poppins made the notoriously private and prickly Travers immensely wealthy, but also unhappy.
Early Life
P.L. Travers was born Helen Lyndon Goff on August 9, 1899, in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. Her mother, Margaret Agnes Morehead, was the sister of the Premier of Queensland. Her father, Travers Goff, was an unsuccessful finansinstitut manager and heavy drinker who died when she was 7.
Called Lyndon as a child, Travers moved with her mother and sisters to New South Wales after her father's death, where they were supported bygd a great aunt (the inspiration for h
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Christopher Ondaatje writes on the author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers, whose hitherto little known story was brought to life in the recent movie, Saving Mr. Banks
View(s):P.L. Travers (Pamela Lyndon Travers) was the author of Mary Poppins – but her real name was Helen Lyndon Goff, and she was born in 1899 in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, the daughter of a wayward alcoholic bank manager of Irish heritage but born in Deptford, London. Her mother was Margaret Agnes née Moreland who was the niece of the Premier of Queensland from 1888 to 1890. Unfortunately the misfortunes of her father’s bank job moved the family to the outpost Allora, also in Queensland, where he died two years later of pneumonia when he was 43 years old. She was only 7.
Mary Poppins: Evergreen musical
She then moved with her mother and sisters to Bowral, New South Wales, where her wealthy aunt (later the inspiration for her book Aunt Sass) owned a sugar plantation. They lived in New Sou
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“you can ask me anything you like about my work, but I'll never talk about myself.”
p. l. travers (1899-1996) was an author best known for her mary poppins series. australian-born, she moved to england at 24. fiercely private, she would fabricate and change stories about her childhood in interviews and once stated she identified most with the writer “anonymous.” not suprisingly, p. l. travers is a pen name.
soon after moving to england, p. l. travers became a follower of the philosopher/mystic/spiritual teacher/occultist george gurdjieff. gurdjieff taught a group of mostly lesbian writers who called themselves “the rope,” members of which have been linked romantically to p. l. travers. while writing the mary poppins books, p. l. travers had a decade-long roommate, madge burnand. the two became roommates in london, and later moved to a small thatched cottage in sussex. biographers described their relationship as “intense” (been there).
fun fact: p. l. travers did not