Once on a Time

Alan Alexander Milne was born in Kilburn, London on January 18th, 1882. He was a pupil at Westminster School and then Trinity College, Cambridge where he graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics in 1903. Whilst there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. Coming to the attention of Punch Magazine he contributed humorous verse and whimsical essays which led to him becoming not only a valued contributor but later an assistant editor. During the early part of the 20th century Milne was very prolific keeping up his numerous article writing as well as 18 plays and 3 novels. In 1920 he, and his wife of seven years, Dorothy, thought they were expecting a baby girl. When the baby was born a boy, he was named Christopher Robin Milne. In 1925, the Milne’s bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex, and on Christmas Eve that year Pooh first appeared in the London Evening News in a story called "The Wrong Sort Of Bees". A book, Winnie-the-Pooh, was published in 1926, followed by The House at Pooh Corner in 1928. A second collection of nursery rhymes, Now We Are Six, was published in 1927. All three books were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Milne’s life was so much more than Winnie-the-Pooh but his legacy is overshadowed by the world-wide success of that not so bright bear. We hope that by reading this work you too will agree.