This chapter exists of an overview of the life of Alan Alexander Milne (1882 - 1956):

	Biography of A. A. Milne (This biography is taken from 'Just Another Pooh Bear Site' (http://www.crafthouse-web-design.com/winnie/pooh.html), with the permission of the owner Malcolm M. McKay
	Chronological Overview

Biography of Alan Alexander Milne

A.A. Milne with his son Christopher Robin.

Family

Alan Alexander Milne was born January 18, 1882, the youngest of three sons to Sarah Marie and John Vine Milne. His father ran a school for young boys, Henley House, in which Alan, and his older brothers, David Barrett Milne (Barry) and Kenneth John Milne (Ken) grew up in.

John Vine Milne was the eldest son of a Congressional minister (William Milne, who married Harriet Newell Barrett while a missionary in Jamaica in 1845) and had served in many odd jobs before settling on teaching. He married Sarah Maria Heginbotham (called Maria in the family) on August 27, 1878.

School and early writing

Alan first started taking classes at Henley House, his father's school. Among his teachers there was one H.G. Wells, who would one day go on to be a famous author and a dear friend to Alan. From Henley House, he went to Westminster School (he detested the food there, and constantly stated that he was always hungry), then decided to attend Cambridge on a mathematics scholarship. His choice of Cambridge over Oxford was not based on any academic standards, but more so due to The Granta, a humorists publication produced at Cambridge.

Through correspondence, Alan and Ken collaborated on light verse which was published in The Granta under the initials A. K. M., a mixture of Alan and Ken's. After about two years, Ken withdrew from the partnership, and Alan went on to writing material solo, and fulfilling his goal of being the editor of The Granta. During the years that Alan was publishing The Granta, the publication made quite a turn-around in reader-ship, gaining a large following. Alan's greatest pleasure at the time came from light verse and the challenge of rhyme.

J.V. had set aside roughly �1000 for his sons to use after they had finished with their schooling, and Alan used this money to move to London and begin a career as an author. He calculated that he had enough to last him two years; the money ran out in sixteen months. However, Alan was earning a small amount of money writing articles free-lance, which he would send to newspapers, as well as publications such as Punch. He made the most money from articles published in the St James Gazette. H.G. Wells had suggested to Alan that a series of articles he had written for the St James Gazette could be the basis for a book. In March 1905, Lovers in London was published.

Alan would later buy back the copyright on the book for �5 to prevent a reprint of the book when he was a more well-known author.

Later in 1905, Punch began to regularly print Milne's pieces, and his financial situation began to get a bit more secure. However, early in 1906, Alan began to plan another novel, and wrote Owen Seaman (just taking over as editor of Punch) that he would not be sending in articles for the next few months as he would be in the country concentrating on his novel. Seaman wrote back and asked Alan to wait just a bit. It was fortunate that Alan did. He met with Seaman and was asked to become assistant editor, a full time position, with the expectation of a weekly contribution to the magazine. He began on February 13, 1906.

Punch and the War

Though Milne was hired in 1906 as assistant editor of Punch, he was not made a member of the famous Punch table until 1910. Regardless, he was now required to write regularly. This proved to be a problem.

Alan augmented his constant work for Punch by publishing collections of his articles. What he would later consider to be his first book (wanting to forget about Lovers in London), The Day's Play, was published in 1910. Alan sent it to J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. This was to be the start of a lifelong friendship between the two.

Owen Seaman had introduced Alan to his god-daughter, Dorothy de Selincourt (Daphne to her friends) at her coming-out dance, and the two spent a great deal of time with each other.

They married in 1913. Though Daphne was perfect for Alan, she did not get along well with Ken and Maud, and Alan would visit their family by himself.

Billy Moon and His Toys

On August 21, 1920, Christopher Robin Milne was born.

Milne would always call his son Billy in his correspondence to friends and family. The Moon part came about as Christopher's own pronunciation of his last name as a young child. It stuck with him.

Alan had written Vespers after watching Billy say his evening prayers one night, it became instantly popular, and Milne was asked to provide another children's verse for a new children's magazine entitled The Merry-Go-Round. That poem was "The Dormouse and the Doctor", and also became quickly famous. Alan toyed with the idea of writing a whole book of children's verse, and the result was When We Were Very Young, published in 1924. To illustrate the book, Milne enlisted the aid of Punch illustrator, Ernest Shepard. The combination of Milne's poetry and Shepard's drawings proved to be a winner, as the book sold over 50.000 copies within eight weeks of its first publication. (It had only been available for six weeks in the U.S.)

The next book would be of short stories concerning Billy's nursery toys. It was entitled Winnie-the-Pooh, and once again, huge amounts of books were sold quickly. Alan had recognized the importance Shepard's illustrations had played in WWWVY, and decided that instead of a flat rate, Shepard deserved a share of the royalties. An extremely unusual concept at the time, Alan set the split at 80/20. So much did Alan respect Shepard, that one copy of Winnie-the-Pooh bore the inscription:

Alan often gave to charities, among them the Royal Literary Fund, the Society of Authors Fund, and the Children's Country Holiday Fund. He also made sure to set aside enough money for the future of his family and of Ken's.

With the publication of The House at Pooh Corner, Milne announced that it was the last Christopher Robin book he would write. Most critics praised the last installment. The book sold even faster than Winnie-the-Pooh had when it first came out.

After the Bear

In October 1952, Milne had a stroke with left him an invalid for his remaining years. Though not expected to live more than six weeks, Alan would remain alive for a little over three years. A. A. Milne died on January 31, 1956. A memorial service was held for him on February 10 at All Hallows-by-the-Tower in London.
In 1996, his own favorite bear was sold by Bonham's auction house in London to an anonymous buyer in 1996 for �4,600. 

This summary is presented by Malcolm M McKAY

It is an abridged version of a short biography, and has many quotes taken directly from the autobiography of A A Milne.
It appears with the permission of the author James Milne

Chronological Overview

Here is a chronological overview of the life of A.A. Milne:

1882, January 19	Born in London, England.
1893 - 1900	Attends Westminster School, England.
1900	Attends Trinity College, Cambridge, England.
1902	Becomes editor of Trinity College magazine, Granta.
1903	Leaves Trinity College after gaining a degree in Mathematics. Moves to London to work as a freelance writer. Makes his first sale "The Rape of the Sherlock", which was first rejected by Punch, but picked up and published by Vanity Fair magazine.
1904	His first poem is published in Punch magazine.
1905	His first book "Lovers in London" is published. His works begin to appear regularly in Punch magazine.
1906	February 13 - Becomes assistant editor of Punch magazine (until 1914).
1910	"The Day's Play", a collection of his Punch essays is published.
1913	Marries Dorothy 'Daphne' de Selincourt, god-daughter of Punch's editor, Owen Seaman. The couple move to a house in Chelsea, England.
1915	February 10 - Enlists with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment August - Sent to the Southern Command Signaling School for a nine week course after which he qualifies as a signaling officer.
1916	Spring - Sent to France to serve on the front line. November 8 - After contracting a fever he is sent back to England. After he recovers he is put in charge of a company at a new formed signaling school at Fort Southwick, England. He remains there until his discharge from the army.
1917	"Wurzel Flummery", his first play is performed in London, England.
1918	February 14 - Discharged from the army. Resigns from Punch magazine to concentrate on writing plays.
1920	January 5 - The play "Mr. Pim Passes By" is performed in London, England. August 21 - His only child, Christopher Robin, is born
1921	"The Red House Mystery" is published. An adaptation of "Mr. Pim Passes By" is published
1923	January - The children's poem "Vespers" is published in Vanity Fair magazine. The poem "The Dormouse and the Doctor" is published in the children's magazine Merry-Go-Round.
1924	The book "When We Were Very Young" illustrated by E H Shepard is published.
1925	The Milnes move into a cottage at Cotchford Farm, Sussex, England. The book "A Gallery of Children", a collection of children's stories is published. December 24 - A story entitled "Winnie the Pooh" is published in The London Evening News. December 25 - "Winnie the Pooh" is broadcast in England on the radio by the BBC.
1926	August - "Eeyore has a Birthday" is published in Royal Magazine. October 14 - The book "Winnie the Pooh" is published in London, England. October 21 - The book "Winnie the Pooh" is published in New York, USA.
1927	October - The book "Now We Are Six" a collection of children's verse is published.
1928	October - The book "The House at Pooh Corner", which introduces the character of Tigger, is published.
1929	The play "The Ivory Door" is published. The play "Toad of Toad Hall" is published.
1931	The play "Michael and Mary" is produced.
1933	The book "Four Days Wonder" is published.
1934	September - The book "Peace With Honour" is published.
1937	The play "Sarah Simple" is produced.
1938	November - The play "Gentlemen Unknown" is produced.
1939	His autobiography "It's Too Late Now" is published.
1946	The book "Chloe Marr" is published.
1951	The play "Before the Flood" is published.
1952	The book "Year In, Year Out" is published. October - He suffers a stroke. December - He undergoes a brain operation which leaves him partially paralyzed.
1956	January 31 - He dies after a long illness. February 10 - His memorial service is held at All Hallows-by-the-Tower in London, England.
1961	His wife sells the film rights of the books to Walt Disney, who then creates animated features based on the stories.

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�  27 mrt 2000