A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne (January 18, 1882 - January 31, 1956) is an English author best known for his books about the talking stuffed bear Winnie the Pooh or Edward Bear and various poems, some of which feature Winnie or Christopher Robin, his son.

Milne was born in Scotland but raised in London. As a child one of his teachers was H. G. Wells. He attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge where he studied on a mathematics scholarship.

Milne became a contributor and later assistant editor for the humorous British magazine "Punch". His son Christopher Robin was born in 1920. Milne joined the British army in World War I but after the war wrote a denunciation of war titled "Peace with Honour[?]" (1934) (which he retracted somewhat in 1940 with "War with Honor[?]"). In 1925, he bought a country home, Cotchford Farm[?] in Sussex. This farm is where he retired to after brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid.

He is most famous for his Pooh books, which feature a boy named Christopher Robin, after his son, and various characters inspired by his son's stuffed animals, most notably the bear named Pooh. A Canadian black bear named Winnie (Winnipeg), used as a military mascot and left to London Zoo after the war, is said to have been the source of the name for Milne's most famous character. E. H. Shepard illustrated the original Pooh books.

After Milne's death, rights to the Pooh characters were sold to the Walt Disney Corp., which has made a number of cartoon movies out of them and merchandise.

He also wrote a number of poems including They're Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace and King John's Christmas in the books Now We Are Six[?] and When We Were Very Young[?]. This were parodied in the recent book Now We Are Sixty[?].

He also adapted Wind in the Willows[?] for Kenneth Grahame for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall. These shouldn't be confused with stage versions entitled Wind in the Willows, as this is a more complex play.

Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Novels 2 Non-Fiction 3 Story Collections 4 Poetry 5 Plays

Novels

Lovers in London[?], (1905) (Some consider this more of a short story collection; Milne didn't like it and considered The Day's Play[?] as his first book)

Mr. Pim Passes By[?], (1921)

Once on a Time[?], (1917)

The House at Pooh Corner[?], (1928)

The Red House Mystery, (1921)

Winnie the Pooh, (1926)

Non-Fiction

Peace with Honour[?], (1934)

It's Too Late Now[?], (1939) (autobiography)

War with Honor[?], (1940)

Year In, Year Out[?], (1952)

Story Collections

At Play[?], (1912)

The Day's Play[?], (1910)

Gallery of Children[?], (1925)

The Holiday Round[?], (1912)

Once a Week[?], (1914)

The Sunny Side[?], (1921)

Those Were the Days[?], (1929)

Poetry

Behind the Lines[?], (1940)

The Norman Church[?], (1948)

Now We Are Six, (1927)

When We Were Very Young, (1924)

Plays

Milne wrote over 25 plays including:

• Ariadne, (1924)
• The Artist: a Duologue[?], (1923)
• Before the Flood[?], (1951)
• Belinda[?], (1918)
• The Boy Comes Home[?], (1918)
• The Camberley Triangle[?], (1919)
• The Dover Road[?], (1921)
• Four Days Wonder[?], (1933)
• The Fourth Wall[?] or The Perfect Alibi[?], (1928)
• Gentleman Unknown[?], (1938)
• Give Me Yesterday[?], (1923)
• The Great Broxopp Success[?], (1923)
• The Ivory Door[?], (1929)
• The Lucky One[?], (1922)
• Make-Believe[?], (1918)
• The Man in the Bowler Hat[?], (1924)
• Michael and Mary[?]
• Miss Elizabeth Bennett[?] (based on Pride and Prejudice?, (1936)
• Miss Marlow at Play[?], (1927)
• Mr. Pim Passes By[?], (1919) (an adaptation of his own novel)
• Other People's Lives[?], (1933)
• Portrait of a Gentleman in Slippers[?], (1926)
• The Red Feathers[?], (1920)
• The Romantic Age[?], (1920)
• Sarah Simple[?], (1937)
• The Stepmother[?], (1920)
• Success; a play in three acts[?], (1926)
• To Have the Honour[?], (1924)
• Toad of Toad Hall, (1929) (Adaptation of The Wind in the Willows)
• The Truth about Blayds[?], (1920)
• The Ugly Duckling[?] based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, (1946)
• Worzel-Flummery[?], (1917)

The play, "The Fourth Wall" was made into a film called "The Perfect Alibi[?]"