A. A. Milne

Name: Alan Alexander Milne (commonly known as A. A. Milne)

Introduction: A. A. Milne was an English writer, poet, and playwright. While he had a successful career as an essayist, novelist, and dramatist, he is overwhelmingly and enduringly famous as the creator of the beloved children’s stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, and their friends in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Date of birth: January 18, 1882

Died: January 31, 1956 (aged 74), in Hartfield, Sussex, England.

Height: Information not widely available.

Place of birth: Kilburn, London, England

Family:

Parents’ names: John Vine Milne (father, a school headmaster) and Sarah Maria Milne (née Heginbotham) (mother).
Siblings: He was the youngest of three sons. He had two older brothers, Kenneth and Barry. His closest relationship was with his brother Ken.
Spouse: Dorothy “Daphne” de Sélincourt (m. 1913; died 1971).
Children: Christopher Robin Milne (son, born 1920).
Relatives: His brother Kenneth. One of his teachers at his father’s school was the renowned author H.G. Wells.

Profession: Author, poet, playwright, humorist.

Nationality: English (British)

Religion: Information not consistently available.

College or university attended:

Henley House School (his father’s private school)
Westminster School, London
Trinity College, Cambridge (attended on a mathematics scholarship, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics in 1903). While at Cambridge, he edited and wrote for the student magazine Granta.

Biography and What Famous For:

A. A. Milne grew up in London, where his father ran a small independent school. He was a bright student and developed an early interest in writing. After graduating from Cambridge, he moved to London to pursue a career as a freelance writer. In 1906, he joined the staff of the leading British humor magazine Punch, where he wrote humorous verse and whimsical essays and later became an assistant editor (until 1914).

Despite being a pacifist, Milne served in the British Army during World War I, commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He served briefly on the Somme as a signals officer but was invalided back to England due to illness. He later worked in military intelligence, writing propaganda articles.

After the war, Milne achieved considerable success as a playwright, writing a series of light comedies, including Mr. Pim Passes By (1921) and The Dover Road (1921). He also penned a detective novel, The Red House Mystery (1922).

However, A. A. Milne is overwhelmingly most famous for his children’s books inspired by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, and Christopher’s stuffed animals:

“When We Were Very Young” (1924): A collection of children’s poetry that featured a “teddy bear” who would later become Winnie-the-Pooh.
“Winnie-the-Pooh” (1926): The first collection of stories about the eponymous bear and his friends.
“Now We Are Six” (1927): A second collection of children’s poetry.
“The House at Pooh Corner” (1928): The sequel to “Winnie-the-Pooh,” introducing the character of Tigger.

These books, beautifully illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard, became instant classics and have endured for generations, translated into numerous languages. The characters—Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Owl—and the setting of the Hundred Acre Wood (inspired by Ashdown Forest near Milne’s country home) are globally recognized.

The immense success of the Pooh books somewhat overshadowed Milne’s other literary works, a fact he reportedly came to resent, as he wished to be recognized for his adult novels and plays. He also adapted Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall (1929) and published an autobiography, It’s Too Late Now (1939).

In his later years, Milne suffered from ill health, including a stroke, and died in 1956. The legacy of Winnie-the-Pooh, however, continues to thrive, delighting children and adults worldwide.

Have participated:

Novels: