Mary Poppins author 'ruined son's life'

The first depiction of the icon Walt Disney in a film follows the family studio head, played by Tom Hanks, in his struggles to get a big-screen adaptation of Mary Poppins off the ground.

Mary Poppins author Pamela Lyndon Travers. Source: Getty Images

Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in the movie Saving Mr Banks. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

EMMA Thompson plays the Australian-born creator of Mary Poppins in a new movie. But omitted from the film are details from Travers? personal life that reveal a far darker side to the famously difficult writer.

Saving Mr Banks also stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, with the film depicting Disney’s 20-year battle to secure the movie rights for Pamela Lyndon Travers’ story.

But omitted from the film are details from Travers’ personal life that reveal a far darker side to the famously difficult writer.

Particularly disturbing was Travers’ adoption of her son, a twin who was separated from his brother because Travers decided she only wanted one of the boys. This decision was to have terrible repercussions for both their lives.

Actors Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in a scene from the 1964 film 'Mary Poppins'. Source: Supplied

Travers was born in Queensland to British parents but it wasn’t till she moved to London in her 20s that her career took off.

After failed attempts at acting she devoted herself to writing, publishing Mary Poppins to great acclaim in 1934.

In spite of her literary success true love eluded her and craving a child, but without a partner, she decided to adopt from the Hones, an Irish family of artists and writers.

According to a report in the Mail Online, the Hone patriarch pleaded with Travers to take the family’s twin sons but the writer insisted she could only look after one, selecting the baby based on advice from her astrologer.

Author PL (Pamela Lyndon) Travers (real name Helen Lyndon Goff) who wrote childrens story Mary Poppins (1899-1996). Pic Handout 1966 P/ Source: Supplied

Split from his twin, Camillus was raised in luxury and told by his mother he was the son of a wealthy sugar baron.

However, when he was 17 his twin Anthony appeared at Travers’ home in Chelsea. Although Travers threw the boy out out she was unable to hide the truth from Camillus for long.

According to the boys’ oldest brother, Joseph Hone, Travers’ decision to separate the brothers ruined both their lives.

Unable to cope with the deception both brothers descended in to alcoholism and Travers, who became a millionaire after she sold the rights to Mary Poppins to Disney in 1961, was so concerned that Camillus would fritter away the family fortune she put all her money in trust for him and her grandchildren after she died.

“Pamela Travers saw herself as Mary Poppins and thought she could play Poppins with poor little Camillus,” Joseph Hone told the Mail.

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins Source: Supplied

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Police seek author of note that led to beaten teen

By DAN JOLING
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A typed, anonymous note left with police at the University of Alaska Anchorage said a teenager had been severely beaten and left to die at an abandoned downtown building. The note said the writer felt compelled to tell someone.

"''They said they couldn't live with themselves, that they had to tell, they had to say something," Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell said.

Officers acting on the tip Monday night found 18-year-old James Clinton in a home scheduled to be demolished two days later.

He was unconscious and in critical condition. Police found an identity card in his pocket but were unsure of his name because of severe injuries to Clinton's face.

"It's my understanding he was beaten around the head and the face, the whole body," Shell said.

He was rushed to an Anchorage hospital and on Thursday remained unconscious and in critical condition.

"We have not yet spoken to the young man because of his medical state," Shell said.

Police have appealed to the note writer to come forward so they can learn why Clinton was beaten.

Two University Police Department officers were on duty at their desks in a squad room at about 8:30 p.m. Monday when the note appeared, University Police Chief Rick Shell said.

"One of them got up to do something and noticed a note on the floor," he said. "He picked it up, read it, let the other officer read it. The other officer saw content that led him to believe that the Anchorage Police Department should be involved."

The campus is more than two miles from the abandoned home in downtown Anchorage.

Anchorage police found Clinton in the basement. Police initially said he was being held against his will, but spokeswoman Anita Shell said his injuries prevented him from leaving.

The home was owned by Covenant House, which operates a shelter across the street for homeless teenagers. Director Alison Kear said the home was to be demolished to expand a parking lot.

Wrought iron mesh had covered the windows and doors were locked, Kear said. A security company had patrolled outside. The only access she could guess was a second-floor window not much bigger than a dog door.

"How they were able to enter there is perplexing to me," she said.

Shell did not know if a weapon was used. She could not say Thursday whether the crime scene was the abandoned home or elsewhere.

"We gathered evidence from that scene," Shell said. "I don't have specifics on whether that's where the assault took place."

Investigators allowed the scheduled demolition to move forward and a wrecking crew used heavy machinery to knock the building down Thursday morning.

University Police Chief Shell praised the quick response by both departments.

"This was just an absolutely outstanding case of two officers taking something that could have been fairly innocuous and taking it seriously," Shell said. "It ended up saving the young man's life."

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