"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
Alan Alexander "A. A." Milne
January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an
English author, best known for his books about
the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various
poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a
playwright, before the huge success of Pooh
overshadowed all his previous work. Milne
January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an
English author, best known for his books about
the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various
poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a
playwright, before the huge success of Pooh
overshadowed all his previous work. Milne
served in both World Wars, joining the British
Army in World War I, and was a captain of the
British Home Guard in World War II.
Biography
Alan Alexander Milne was born in Kilburn,
London to parents John Vince Milne, who was
Scottish, and Sarah Marie Milne (née
Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House
School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent),
Kilburn, a small public school run by his father.
One of his teachers was H. G. Wells , who
taught there in 1889–90. Milne attended
Westminster School and Trinity College,
Cambridge where he studied on a
mathematics scholarship, graduating with a B.A.
in Mathematics in 1903. While there, he edited
and wrote for Granta, a student magazine.He
collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their
articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's
work came to the attention of the leading British
humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to
become a contributor and later an assistant
editor. Milne played for the amateur English
cricket team the Allahakbarries alongside
authors J. M. Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Milne joined the British Army in World War I and
served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire
Regiment and later, after a debilitating illness,
the Royal Corps of Signals . He was
commissioned into the 4th Battalion, Royal
Warwickshire Regiment on 17 February 1915 as
a second lieutenant (on probation). His
commission was confirmed on 20 December
1915. On 7 July 1916, he was injured while
serving in the Battle of the Somme and invalided
back to England. Having recuperated, he was
recruited into Military Intelligence to write
propaganda articles for MI 7b between 1916 and
1918. He was discharged on 14 February
1919, and settled in Mallord Street, Chelsea.
[He relinquished his commission on 19
February 1920, retaining the rank of lieutenant.
After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war
titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he
retracted somewhat with 1940's War with
Honour . During World War II, Milne was
one of the most prominent critics of fellow
English writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was
captured at his country home in France by the
Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse
made radio broadcasts about his internment,
which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the
light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the
Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of
committing an act of near treason by cooperating
with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some
revenge on his former friend (e.g., in The Mating
Season ) by creating fatuous parodies of the
Christopher Robin poems in some of his later
stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably
jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his
stuff."
Milne married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in
1913 and their son Christopher Robin Milne was
born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a
country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield , East
Sussex.
During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of
the British Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest
Row, insisting on being plain "Mr. Milne" to the
members of his platoon. He retired to the farm
after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him
an invalid, and by August 1953 "he seemed very
old and disenchanted". Milne died in January
1956, aged 74.
titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he
retracted somewhat with 1940's War with
Honour . During World War II, Milne was
one of the most prominent critics of fellow
English writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was
captured at his country home in France by the
Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse
made radio broadcasts about his internment,
which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the
light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the
Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of
committing an act of near treason by cooperating
with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some
revenge on his former friend (e.g., in The Mating
Season ) by creating fatuous parodies of the
Christopher Robin poems in some of his later
stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably
jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his
stuff."
Milne married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in
1913 and their son Christopher Robin Milne was
born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a
country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield , East
Sussex.
During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of
the British Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest
Row, insisting on being plain "Mr. Milne" to the
members of his platoon. He retired to the farm
after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him
an invalid, and by August 1953 "he seemed very
old and disenchanted". Milne died in January
1956, aged 74.
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