Alan Alexander Milne (January 18, 1882 - January 31, 1956) is an English author now best known for his books about the talking stuffed bear Winnie the Pooh and various poems, some of which also feature 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 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 cartoon movies out of them and merchandise.
He 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.
Milne wrote over 25 plays including:
Bibliography
Novels
Non-Fiction
Story Collections
Poetry
Plays
The play The Fourth Wall was made into a film called The Perfect Alibi.
