Winnie-the- Pooh Day 18 January 2021 - Winnie-the-Pooh Day is celebrated each year on 18 January, the - Bradford Grammar School
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Winnie-the– Pooh Day
18 January 2021
Winnie-the-Pooh Day is celebrated each year on 18 January, the
birthday of author A. A. Milne.
Alan Alexander Milne was a noted writer and playwright prior to the universal
success he achieved with the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh. His son was
Christopher Robin Milne, upon whom the character Christopher Robin is based.
Background
A. A. Milne was born in London in 1882. At school one of his teachers was H. G.
Wells (The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds etc.).
Milne studied Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. While at university, Milne
edited and wrote for Granta (a student magazine) and this work led to him writing for
the humour magazine Punch.
He was a talented cricketer and played for two amateur teams, including the Authors
XI that included teammates J. M. Barrie (Peter Pan), Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock
Holmes) and P. G. Wodehouse (Jeeves and Wooster).
He joined the army in WWI and served firstly as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire
Regiment, and then later (after recovering from a serious illness) switched to the
Royal Corps of Signals. Injured at the Battle of the Somme he was invalided back to
England in July 1916. After he recovered from his injuries, he was recruited into
Military Intelligence to write propaganda articles for MI7.
He had married Dorothy de Sélincourt in 1913 and their son, Christopher Robin
Milne was born in 1920. During WWII Milne was a captain in the Home Guard in
Hartfield & Forest Row. After the war he retired, suffering a stroke and undergoing
brain surgery in 1952 that left him invalided. Milne died in 1956, aged 74.
Writing
After graduating from Cambridge in 1903 Milne wrote for Punch magazine and
became an assistant editor in 1906. He was a prolific writer at this time, publishing
18 plays and three novels. His son was born in 1920 and four years later he
published a collection of children’s poems When We Were Very Young, illustrated by
artist (and fellow Punch employee) E. H. Shepherd.
Milne also wrote film scripts at this time for the blossoming British film industry: The
Bump; Twice Two; Five Pound Reward, and Bookworms. The British Film Archive
has preserved some of these films.
It is his two books about a boy names Christopher Robin, and a loveable bear that
eventually brought Milne true fame. The animal characters in Winnie-the-Pooh, and
The House at Pooh Corner were inspired by his son Christopher Robin’s stuffed toy
animals. A teddy bear originally named Edward was renamed Winnie after the
Canadian black bear that lived at London Zoo. Other toys – Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga,
Roo and Tigger. Owl and Rabbit came Milne added to the mix from his own
imagination. The real toys are now preserved and on display at the Central Public
Library in New York.
A. A. Milne, Christopher Robin Milne, and Winnie the toy bear in 1926.
Christopher Robin Milne’s original toy animals on display in New York.
The fictional Hundred Acre Wood derives from Five Hundred Acre Wood in Sussex
where the Pooh stories are set. E. H. Shepherd spent time painting landscapes
there so that the characters could be set in the landscape.
E. H. Shepherd sketches for the book Winnie-the-Pooh
1929 onwards
The succes of his childrens books was to become a source of considerable
annoyance to Milne. One resaon he stopped wtiting children’s books, especially
about Winnie-the-Pooh was the disgust he felt over the fame his son was exposed
to. He did not want his son to grow to regret his connection to the stories when he
was older.
The rights to Milne’s Pooh books were left to four beneficiaries: his family, The Royal
Literary Fund, Westminster School and the Garrick Club. After his death in 1956,
and just a few weeks after his 74th birthday his widow sold her rights to the Pooh
characters to Stephen Slesinger (US radio, TV and folm producer). When Slesinger
died his widow sold the rights on again to the Walt Disney Company, which has
since made many Pooh cartoon movies and shows, and produces Pooh
merchandise. In 2001 the other beneficiaries sold their interest in the Estate to the
Disney Corporation for $350m. In 2002 Winnie-the-Pooh merchandising products
alone had annual sales of more than $5.9 billion. Disney had made a sound
investment.
In 2008, a collection of original E. H. Shepherd illustrations were sold at Sotherby’s,
London. The sale made more than £1.2m.
A memorial plaque in Ashdown Forest, unveiled by Christopher Robin Milne in 1979
commemorates the work of his father and E. H. Shepherd. A. A. Milne once wrote of
Ashdown Forest:
“In that enchanted place on top of the forest a little boy and his bear will always be
playing”.
Further information can be found at:
A A Milne | Royal Signals Museum
A.A. Milne - Poems by the Famous Poet - All Poetry
Christopher Robin Milne - Wikipedia
E.H. Shepard - Illustration History
Pooh’s corners: magical stays in Ashdown Forest | Sussex holidays | The Guardian
Winnie the Pooh: True Story Behind Goodbye Christopher Robin | Time
If you love A. A. Milne’s Pooh books, you might just like these
books:
A Boy and a Bear in a Boat | BookTrust
A boy, a mole, a fox and a horse: the recipe for a Christmas bestseller | Children and teenagers | The
Guardian
Fun activity ideas for little people:
Why not create some ‘Hunny pot’ planters? You just need old plant pots, and some
acrylic paints:
If you have some paper plates you could have a go at making these:
Follow this link to see if you can create an origami Winnie-the-Pooh (you may need
help).
The Winnie Pooh! How to make disney origami - YouTubeYou can also read
