Disney Classic - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

www.sparksden.org





Disney Classic - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh



please seed back



A.A. Milne





When Sarah Marie and John Vince Milne bought their youngest son into the world, Alan Alexander Milne (A.A. Milne) they had no idea he would grow to be one of the worlds greatest children's story teller......



Alan Alexandra Milne (Alan) born January 18th, 1882 was bought up in London in his farther's School, Henley House, with his brothers David Barrett Milne and Kenneth John Milne. While studying there he found inspiration in one of his teachers, H.G. Wells, who himself would go on to be a famous writer and a close friend to alan.



After Henley house Alan decided to go to Westminster school and from there to Cambridge following a Mathematics scholarship. While their his brother Ken and himself were published in The Granta, from there they formed a partnership writing light verse. Two years later ken left the partnership and alan went solo and became the Editor of Granta one of his life long ambitions.



John Vince Milne decided that when his son's had finished their education they would each receive £1000 pounds, Alan took his money and fled to London where he started a career as a author, meanwhile the money ran out and so he was forced to take a job as a freelance writer for local newspaper.



In 1905 Alan produced his first book "Lovers in London" which proved to be a failure, to his dismay he bought back the copyright for £5 to prevent a re-print when he was a more famous writer. From there he took a job at "Punch" writing articles, when his money situation became more stable he decided to try and write another book, However Owen Seamen (owner of 'Punch') told him to wait and offered him the job of assistant editor.



Meanwhile he started to write his second book "The Days Play" During this time Owen Seamen introduced Alan to his god daughter, Dorothy De Selincourt they were married in 1913. In 1915, February 10th Milne volunteered himself for the war. Through weeks of training he became a Signal ling officer, during this time he wrote his first play "Wurzel - Flummery". Alan was released from the army February 14, 1919.



Since then Milne has produced many plays from:



* Mr Pim Passes by

* The Lucky One

* The Dover Road

* The Romantic age



On the 21st August, 1920 Christopher Milne was born, At this point Alan had written a short verse and had given it to Dorothy as a present, he told her that any money she made on it she could keep, She sent it straight away to magazines, it became a very expensive present and Success Alan was asked to write more and that's where "The Doormouse and the Doctor" derived from, which he wrote for The Merry Go Round magazine.



The childish verses became so popular he decided to write a children's book entitled "When We Were Young" published in 1924, Alan decided to call on one of his friends from punch Ernest Shepherd who went on to be a famous children's illustrator. Alan decided he did not want to commission shepherd and drew up a 80/20 partnership agreement.



From there "Winnie The Pooh" was written, Alan got his inspiration from Christopher's toys and from there he wrote "The House at Pooh Corner" Alan claimed this would be his last book. Alan realized that writing was his dream and in 1929 wrote "Toad of Toad Hall" based on the story told by Kenneth Grahames "The Wind in the Willows". The last book Alan published was "Year in, Year out" in 1952 which proved to be a great success.



In October 1952, A.A. Milne had a stroke, for the next three years he was to lead life an invalid, with the truth that his beloved son resented him for his stories and would seldom return to see his farther on his death bed.



On January 31st, 1956 Alan Alexander Milne Died.



On February 10 of that year a memorial service was held in London, that was to be the last time Christopher Milne would see his mother although she lived a further 15 years a widow.



In 1961, Dorothy sold the film rights to Walt Disney, who created what we see today as the Winnie the Pooh animated stories.



Today Milne's books still continue to be best sellers even after his death, and yet his classic pooh stories will still be children's favorites and his play "Toad of Toad Hall" will still be enjoyed as a Christmas classic.