Extracts from
"The Journey"
by Robert Barham.

Introduction

Chapter One  |  Chapter Four  |  Chapter Six

Chapter Eight  |  Chapter 11  |  Epilogue

Los Angeles Airport, February 23rd 2001…seven thirty three pm ... and thirty-five seconds, to be precise. Our plane back to England has been delayed for two hours, so I suppose that this would be as good a time as any to start! Start what? I hear you say. Well a very old friend of mine always used to tell me that when writing anything about anyone, or anything, you should start with the five W's. They are Who; What, When, Where and Why?

I'll start with the Who.
The who in this case is me, Robert Barham. I was born in a place named Kenton, which is about eight miles from central London, England, in August 1962. My father was an Antiques dealer, and my mother a woman who had the unenviable task of staying at home and mothering six children.

The What is, and what this story is about, the writing of a musical covering the early life of the film star Cary Grant, due to be performed in September of this year...if all goes well. Whoops, I think I blew What and When in one go! Sorry.

The Where is at a small theatre about fifteen miles from central London "The Compass"  
Over the past year or so I have been encouraged to "Write a list" of all the little coincidences that keep happening in relation to the show.  Well my" list" seems to want to take the shape of a book, and who am I to stop it?

Finally the Why.  
Why is perhaps most difficult to answer, and over the course of the book I'll let you draw that conclusion for yourself. Many have said to me that it's fate, and others that it is all just coincidence.  I can only offer you the events as they have happened.

"Archie" began life one Monday night towards the end of 1996.  As I was driving home I caught the end of a radio programme featuring an article on Hollywood film star Cary Grant.  As I listened, I also remembered a film review that for some reason had stuck, in my mind from many years earlier.  That film review had ended with the line  "... But the insecure Archie Leach still shows through."  On my next visit to the library I picked up a biography on Cary Grant.  I don't really know why, but by the tenth page I knew that this was going to be the subject for my next musical.  From that moment on "Archie" was to take up most of the next four years of my life.