A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne (January 18, 1882 - January 31, 1956), also known as A. A. Milne, is an English author best known for his books about the talking stuffed bear; Winnie the Pooh and for various children's poems, some of which also feature Winnie-the-Pooh and friends.

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Biography

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 Milne 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 Hartfield, East 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 Winnie the 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 Company, which has made a number of Pooh cartoon movies, as well as a large amount of Pooh-related merchandise.

Milne also wrote a number of poems, including "Vespers", "They're Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace", and "King John's Christmas", which were published in the books When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. His poems have been parodied many times, including in the book Now We Are Sixty.

He also adapted Kenneth Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall.

Bibliography

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)
• Once on a Time, (1917)
• Mr. Pim Passes By, (1921)
• The Red House Mystery, (1921)

Non-Fiction

• Peace with Honour, (1934)
• It's Too Late Now, (1939) (autobiography)
• War with Honor, (1940)
• Year In, Year Out, (1952)

Story Collections

• The Day's Play, (1910)
• At Play, (1912)
• Once a Week, (1914)
• The Holiday Round, (1912)
• The Sunny Side, (1921)
• Gallery of Children, (1925)
• Winnie the Pooh, (1926)
• The House at Pooh Corner, (1928)
• Those Were the Days, (1929)

Poetry

• When We Were Very Young, (1924)
• Now We Are Six, (1927)
• Behind the Lines, (1940)
• The Norman Church, (1948)

Plays

Milne wrote over 25 plays including:

• Worzel-Flummery, (1917)
• Belinda, (1918)
• The Boy Comes Home, (1918)
• Make-Believe, (1918)
• The Camberley Triangle, (1919)
• Mr. Pim Passes By, (1919)
• The Red Feathers, (1920)
• The Romantic Age, (1920)
• The Stepmother, (1920)
• The Truth about Blayds, (1920)
• The Dover Road, (1921)
• The Lucky One, (1922)
• The Artist: a Duologue, (1923)
• Give Me Yesterday, (1923)
• The Great Broxopp Success, (1923)
• Ariadne, (1924)
• The Man in the Bowler Hat, (1924)
• To Have the Honour, (1924)
• Portrait of a Gentleman in Slippers, (1926)
• Success; a play in three acts, (1926)
• Miss Marlow at Play, (1927)
• The Fourth Wall or The Perfect Alibi, (1928)
• The Ivory Door, (1929)
• Toad of Toad Hall, (1929) (Adaptation of The Wind in the Willows)
• Four Days Wonder, (1933)
• Other People's Lives, (1933)
• Miss Elizabeth Bennett (based on Pride and Prejudice?, (1936)
• Sarah Simple, (1937)
• Gentleman Unknown, (1938)
• The Ugly Duckling based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, (1941)
• Before the Flood, (1951)
• Michael and Mary
• The ranchview Story, (2004)

The play The Fourth Wall was made into a film called The Perfect Alibi.