A. A. Milne

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Lore & Background

Milne was born in Kilburn, London, to John Vine Milne and Sarah Marie Milne on 18 January 1882. He taught himself to read at age two and attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied on a mathematics scholarship, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics in 1903. He edited and wrote for the student magazine Granta. His work came to the attention of Punch, where he became a contributor and later assistant editor. He played cricket for amateur teams including the Allahakbarries and the Authors XI, alongside J. M. Barrie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and P. G. Wodehouse. During World War I, Milne served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 1 February 1915, served on the Somme as a signals officer from July to November 1916, and was invalided back to England with trench fever. He later worked in military intelligence writing propaganda for MI7 (b) between 1917 and 1918. After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), and later War with Honour (1940). During World War II, he was a captain in the Home Guard and criticized P. G. Wodehouse for radio broadcasts made from Berlin after Wodehouse was captured by the Nazis. Milne married Dorothy 'Daphne' de Sélincourt in 1913, and their son Christopher Robin Milne was born in 1920. The character Christopher Robin is based on their son. Milne was inspired to write the story of Winnie-the-Pooh after a visit to London Zoo, where Christopher became enamoured of the tame and amiable bear Winnipeg. Milne bequeathed the original manuscripts of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories to the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge, his alma mater.

Reader's Guide

A. A. Milne's significance rests primarily on his two Pooh books: Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), which introduced characters based on his son's stuffed animals, illustrated by E. H. Shepard, and set in the Hundred Acre Wood derived from Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest. The fictional Christopher Robin is based on his son, and the bear Winnie-the-Pooh was inspired by a Canadian black bear named Winnipeg at London Zoo. The success of these works, however, overshadowed Milne's earlier career as a playwright and humorist for Punch. He expressed frustration that his children's books eclipsed his other writing, as he valued the freedom to write what he pleased. His legacy includes the ongoing popularity of Winnie-the-Pooh, which won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958, and the preservation of his manuscripts at Trinity College, Cambridge. Milne's wartime service and his later criticism of P. G. Wodehouse also mark his place in literary history.

Did You Know?

• Milne taught himself to read at the age of two.
• One of his teachers at Henley House School was H. G. Wells, who taught there in 1889–90.
• Milne served on the Somme as a signals officer from July to November 1916, then caught trench fever and was invalided back to England.
• He bequeathed the original manuscripts of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories to the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge, his alma mater.
• The character Winnie-the-Pooh was inspired by a Canadian black bear named Winnipeg, which was used as a military mascot in World War I and left to London Zoo.