Alan Alexander Milne

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About Alan Alexander Milne

Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956), known as A.A. Milne, was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.

He was born in Hampstead, London, son of John Vince Milne, who was Scottish, and Sarah Marie Milne (née Heginbotham). He attended 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 British magazine Punch, where Milne became 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 Chelsea.

Milne married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913. They were expecting a baby girl in 1920, when the baby was born a boy, he was named two names Christopher Robin Milne. 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. Milne died in January 1956, aged 74

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Alan Alexander Milne's Timeline

1882
January 18, 1882
Middlesex
1920
August 21, 1920
Chelsea, London, Middlesex, England UK
1956
January 31, 1956
Age 74
Hartfield, East Sussex, England UK