Known as the literary father of Winnie the Pooh. The stories about the little bear "with sawdust in his head" became one of the greatest victories of the writer, but at the same time, the most terrible defeat in his life. “With seventy thousand words, I said goodbye to all my previous work,” he lamented. But first things first.

Alan Milne was born in 1882 in London, attended a private school, the director of which was his father. Among the teachers of the young Milne was Herbert Wells. However, we have no data that the famous science fiction writer had any influence on the literary career of his student.

Later, Milne entered Westminster School, and then at the elite Trinity College Cambridge, where he studied mathematics. Despite his studies in the exact sciences, the young man decided to make a living through literature. After graduating from Cambridge, he ended up in Punch magazine and soon became an assistant editor. Until 1922, Milne managed to write 18 plays and three novels, including the detective "Secrets of the Red House."

It became a trauma of a lifetime for him. In 1914, the writer went to Flanders. According to journalist Barry Gun, he decided to take this step only because his beloved wife was terribly fond of the officers in military uniforms who flooded London. Dorothy, for her family - Daphne, always wanted to be proud of her husband. Despite the fact that Alan Milne spent relatively little time on the front, he nevertheless participated in major battles, such as the famous Battle of the Somme, which is often called simply "the massacre". After the war, the writer returned as a staunch supporter of peace and cherished the dream of pacifist labor for a long time. The book "Peace with Honor" was published in 1931. This, however, did not stop Alan Milne from becoming captain of the British Self-Defense Force in 1939. He explained his step by the fact that the fight against Hitler, "Antichrist" and "crusader against God" is a just thing.

In the 1920s, Milne became one of the first screenwriters of young British cinema. He has four films on his account, copies of which are now kept at the British Film Institute. All the work of the writer before the appearance of the stories about Winnie the Pooh is continuous, mostly successful, literary experiments. It was he who replaced the heavyweight satire of the pre-war "Punch" with light and subtle humor. But within the framework of satire, he felt cramped, and at a time when the agent and the publisher insisted that he should continue to write caricatures and bizarre essays for Punch, Milne took up detective novels. A couple of years later, these same people assured that detectives were his vocation. Alan Milne could find his audience in any genre. Everything changed when the first book of stories about Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh saw the light of day.

This is not to say that the changes happened overnight. In 1924, four years after the birth of his son Christopher Robin, Milne published a collection of children's poems "When We Were Little", illustrated by Ernest Sheppard. The collection of stories "Children's Gallery", which included stories about Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and others, appeared a year later. As Alan Milne himself said, he did not have to invent anything, he just watched his own son and his games.

Christopher Robin himself gave his father ideas for future stories. The first complete book about the teddy bear and his friends was published in 1926, and the second in 1928. The success turned out to be unprecedented, but I did not want to write more about Vinnie Milne, and the son had already grown up. Alas, after the appearance of books for toddlers, they began to look at the author exclusively as a children's writer. Critics scolded other of his works in advance, and readers demanded a continuation. Like Arthur Conan Doyle, who was captured by Sherlock Holmes, Alan Milne found himself in the tenacious paws of a teddy bear, created by him. Until the end of his life, both the writer and his son hated Vinnie. The first for the fact that this character stole a career from him, the second for a stolen childhood.

There was one more person who regretted that he "contacted" Winnie the Pooh - Ernest Sheppard. He, a brilliant cartoonist and fearless war correspondent, was also perceived until the end of his life only as the author of illustrations for children's books.

Probably, neither Milna nor Sheppard were able to appreciate what is obvious to modern readers. Between the two world wars, when empires collapsed and families fell apart, they created a fairy tale free of politics and hints of personal trauma. A fairy tale in which it is warm and cozy, like in a children's room, and that is why readers all over the world love it so much.

Alan Alexander Milne is a novelist, poet, playwright, classic of 20th century English literature, author of the famous Winnie the Pooh.

Milne was born in the London borough of Kilburn on January 18, 1882. A Scottish by birth, Alan Alexander Milne spent his childhood in London, where his father, John Vine Milne, owned a small private school. His early education was largely influenced by the youth teacher H.G. Wells - much later Milne wrote of Wells as "a great writer and a great friend." He continued his education at Westminster School and Trinity College Cambridge. Subsequently, he presented the handwritten original of his book Winnie the Pooh and The House on the Pooh Edge to the College Library. As a student at Cambridge, where he studied mathematics from 1900 to 1903, he wrote notes for the student newspaper Grant, and his first literary experiments were published in the comic magazine Punch. At the age of 24, Milne began working at Punch as an assistant editor until the outbreak of World War I, in which he took part.

In 1913, Alan Milne married Dorothy Daphne de Selincot, from this marriage one son was born, Christopher Robin Milne. A born pacifist, Milne was drafted into the Royal Army and served in France. The war made a strong impression on the young writer. She became the reason why Milne, who was not particularly interested in politics, thought about what was happening in the world. His famous antiwar work, Peace of Honor, was published in 1934. This book found a huge response during the interwar period, and in 1924 Meffin published Milne's famous short stories "When We Were Very Young," some of which had previously been published in Punch and were well known to regular readers of the magazine.

In 1926, the first version of the Bear with sawdust in his head (in English - "a bear with very small brains") "Winnie the Pooh" appeared. Milne's wife and little Christopher suggested the idea of ​​writing this book. The history of the creation of a fairy tale is full of mysteries and contradictions, but the most important thing is that it has become one of the most popular children's books. The second part of the stories "Now there are six of us" appeared in 1927 and, finally, the final part of the book "House on the Pooh Edge" was published in 1928. It seemed to Milne that he wrote something like a well-selling detective story, because his book immediately earned two and a half thousand pounds. Even after the dizzying success of Winnie the Pooh, Milne was in doubt about his literary talent. He wrote: "All I wanted was to escape from this glory, as I used to want to escape from Punch, as I always wanted to escape ... However ..."
In 1922, he did write a detective novel, The Mystery of the Red House, which was only published in 1939, along with 25 other plays, stories, and Milne's autobiography Too Late. Milne has always recognized and repeatedly emphasized with gratitude the defining role of his wife Dorothy and his son Christopher in the writing and the very fact of the appearance of Winnie the Pooh. The books about Pooh the bear have been translated into 25 languages ​​and have taken their place in the hearts and shelves of millions of readers.

The first chapter of Pooh, "In which we meet Winnie the Pooh and the Bees for the first time," was first published in a London evening paper on December 24, 1925, and broadcast on BBC radio on Christmas Day by Donald Kalfrop. The irony of fate is that Milne was convinced that he did not write children's prose or children's poetry. He spoke to the child within each of us. He never read his stories about Pooh to his son, preferring to educate Christopher on the works of his favorite writer, Wodehouse. Woodhouse subsequently returned the compliment to Milne, saying that "Milne is his favorite children's writer."
Woodhouse's books continued their life at Milne's home after his death. Christopher Robin read these books to his daughter Claire, whose bookshelves were literally full of books by this writer. Christopher wrote to his friend Peter (actor): “My father did not understand anything about the specifics of the book market, knew nothing about the specifics of sales, he never wrote books for children. He knew about me, he knew about himself and the Garrick Club - and he simply did not pay attention to everything else ... Except, perhaps, life itself. " Christopher Robin first read poems and stories about Winnie the Pooh 60 years after their first appearance, when he heard Peter's recordings on the record.
The adventures of Winnie the bear are loved by both adults and children. A 1996 opinion poll conducted by English radio found the book to be ranked 17th on the list of the most significant and significant works published in the twentieth century. Worldwide sales of Winnie the Pooh from 1924 to 1956 exceeded 7 million. As you know, when sales exceed a million, publishers stop counting them.
In 1960, Winnie the Pooh was brilliantly translated into Russian by Boris Zakhoder. Anyone who speaks Russian and English can attest that the translation was made with exquisite precision and ingenious ingenuity. In general, Vinnie has been translated into all European and almost all world languages.
In addition to the world famous Winnie the Pooh, Alan Milne is known as a playwright and novelist. His plays were successfully performed on the professional stage in London, but now they are staged mainly in amateur theaters, although they still collect full houses and arouse the interest of the public and the press.
In 1952, Milne fell seriously ill. He had to undergo a severe brain surgery. The operation was successful, and afterwards Milne returned to his home in Sussex, where he spent the rest of his life reading. After a long illness, he died on January 31, 1956.
Soon after the release of Winnie the Pooh, Milne wrote in The Nation: “I think that each of us secretly dreams of immortality .. In the sense that his name will survive the body and will live in this world, despite the fact that he himself man passed into another world ”. When Milne died, there was no doubt that he had discovered the secret of immortality. And this is not 15 minutes of fame, this is real immortality, which, contrary to his own expectations, was brought to him not by plays and short stories, but by a little bear with sawdust in his head. In 1996, Milne's favorite teddy bear was sold in London at an auction organized by the Bonham House to an unknown buyer for £ 4,600.

Note:
The third photo is the famous Howard Coster photograph, which shows Alan Milne with his son Christopher Robin (who became the prototype of Christopher Robin from the stories of Pooh) and Edward the bear (who inspired Milne to create Winnie the Pooh). Sepia, matte print, 1926. The original is at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Years of life: from 18.01.1882 to 31.12.1956

English writer, poet and playwright best known for his works for children. The author of the famous "Winnie the Pooh".

Alan Alexander Milne was born on January 18, 1882 in London. Since childhood, he dreamed of becoming a writer. He studied at a private school owned by his father. Then he entered Westminster School, and then at Trinity College Cambridge, where he studied mathematics.

He participated in the First World War as an officer in the British army, and then devoted many years to work in the editorial office of the English comic magazine Punch and became an assistant editor. In 1913, he married Dorothy de Selincourt, goddaughter of magazine editor Owen Seaman (who is said to have been the psychological prototype of Eeyore), and his only son, Christopher Robin, was born in 1920. By that time, Milne had been in the war, wrote several funny plays, one of which - "Mr. Pym passed" - was a success.

It was thanks to the birth of Christopher Robin that stories about "a bear with sawdust in his head" were born. The tales of Winnie the Pooh and his friends Milne told his son at night. The heroes of these stories are the boy's toys and himself. In 1926, the first book about Winnie the Pooh was published, and two years later - the second one called "The House on the Pooh Edge".

Most readers in our country are familiar with Winnie the Pooh stories from Boris Zakhoder's translations. The heroes of the writer Alan Milne are known and loved by children all over the world. Cartoons have been filmed based on fairy tales, and there is even a monument to Winnie the Pooh in the London Zoo.

Milne's overwhelming popularity of children's books muted his successes in other genres. Meanwhile, Milne is the author of novels, short stories, poems and plays.

In 1952, the writer underwent unsuccessful brain surgery and was disabled for the last 4 years of his life. Milne died in Hartfield on January 31, 1956.

Alan Milne's school was taught by H.G. Wells.

As a student, he wrote notes for the student newspaper Grant. He usually wrote with his brother Kenneth, and they signed the notes with the name AKM.

The official date of birth of Winnie the Pooh is August 21, 1921, that is, the day when Christopher Robin Milne was one year old. On this day, Milne gave his son a teddy bear (which, however, received the name Pooh only four years later).

Christopher Robin's toys, which became the prototypes of the heroes of the book (except for Little Roo, which has not survived), have been in the United States since 1947 (given there by Milne the father for an exhibition, and after his death were acquired by the Dutton publishing house), were kept in the publishing house until 1969, and currently on display at the New York Public Library. Many Britons believe that this vital part of the country's cultural heritage should return to its homeland. The question of restitution of toys has been raised even in the British Parliament (1998).

One of the most famous translations of books about Pooh into foreign languages ​​is Alexander Lenard's translation into Latin called Winnie ille Pu. The first edition was published in 1958, and in 1960, Latin Pooh became the first non-English book to make the New York Times bestseller list. On the cover of a number of publications, Vinnie is depicted in the attire of a Roman legionnaire with a short sword in his left leg.

Winnie the Pooh is depicted on postage stamps of at least 18 states (including the post of the USSR in 1988, the stamp is dedicated to the history of the Soviet cartoon). The Canadian series of four stamps also deserves special mention, where one stamp depicts Lieutenant Harry Colborne with a Winnipeg bear, the other - little Christopher Robin with a teddy bear, the third - the heroes of Shepard's illustrations, the fourth - Disney Pooh against the background of Walt Disney World during Florida.

Bibliography

Fairy tales
Prince rabbit
Princess Nesmeyana
An ordinary tale

Stories
Truth is in wine
Christmas story
Stunning story
Mr. Findlater's Dreams
Christmas grandfather
Before the flood

At exactly eleven
Portrait of Lydia
River

Novels
Lovers in London (1905)
(English Once on a Time, 1917)
Mr. Pim (1921)
The Red House Mystery (1922)
(eng. Two People, 1931)
(eng. Four Days "Wonder, 1933)
Chloe Marr (1946)

Screen adaptations of works, theatrical performances

List of Disney studio films about Winnie the Pooh :
Short cartoons
1966: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
1968: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
1974: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (Winnie the Pooh, and with him the Tiger)
1981: Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons
1983: Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore
Full-length cartoons
1977: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
1997: Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin
1999: Seasons of Giving
2000: The Tigger Movie
2002: A Very Merry Pooh Year
2003: Piglet's Big Movie
2004: Springtime with Roo
2005: Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie
2007: My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Sleuth Christmas Movie
2009: My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Tigger and Pooh And A Musical Too
TV serials
Welcome to Pooh Corner (Welcome to Pooh Corner, Disney Channel, 1983-1995)
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, ABC, 1988-1991)
The Book of Pooh (Pukhova Book, Disney Channel, 2001-2002)
My Friends Tigger & Pooh (My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Disney Channel, 2007-)
Special holiday releases
1991: Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too! (Winnie the Pooh and Christmas)
1996: Boo! To You Too! Winnie the Pooh
1998: A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving
1998: Winnie the Pooh, A Valentine For You

Animated films produced in the USSR and Russia :
Winnie the Pooh. USSR, 1969.
Winnie the Pooh is visiting. USSR, 1971.
Winnie the Pooh and a day of worries. USSR, 1972.
Why I like the elephant (from the almanac "Merry Carousel", No. 15): Based on a poem by A.A. Milne. USSR, 1983.
Royal Sandwich: Based on the poem by A.A. Milne, translated by S.Ya. Marshak. USSR, 1985.
Nikopeyka: Based on a children's poem by A.A. Milne. Russia, 1999.

In 1906-1914 he was an assistant to the publisher of the "Punch" magazine.

During the First World War he served in the British Army.

In 1917 he published the fairy tale "Once on a Time", in 1921 - the comedy play "Mr. Pim Passed By", which became one of the most popular works of the author. In the 1920s, the play was staged in Manchester, London and New York.

In 1920, Alan Milne and his wife Dorothy had a son, Christopher Robin. From the stories and poems that Alan wrote for his child, in 1924 the book of children's poetry "When We Were Very Young" was born, which three years later had a sequel "Now We Are Six). A poem about a Teddy Bear first appears in When We Were Little. Both editions were illustrated by Ernest Howard Shepard, the artist who painted the famous image of Winnie the Pooh.

Some of the poems are later.

In 1934, Milne, a pacifist, published Peace With Honor, which called for peace and renunciation of war. The book became the subject of serious controversy.

In the 1930s, Milne wrote the novels "Two" (Two People, 1931), "A Very Short Sensation" (Four Days "Wonder, 1933). In 1939 he wrote his autobiography entitled" It's Too Late "(It's Too Late Now). Milne's last novel, Chloe Marr, was published in 1946.

In 1952, the writer suffered a stroke. On January 31, 1956, Alan Alexander Milne passed away at his home in Harfield, Sussex.

The Winnie the Pooh books were copyrighted by four beneficiaries - the Alan Milne family, the Royal Fund for Literature, Westminster School and the Garrick Club. After the death of the writer, his widow sold her share to the Walt Disney Company, which made the famous Winnie the Pooh cartoons. In 2001, other beneficiaries sold their stake to Disney Corporation for $ 350 million.

The son of the writer Christopher Robin Milne (1920-1996) became a writer, following in his father's footsteps, and wrote several memoirs: "Enchanted Places", "After Winnie the Pooh", "The Pit on the Hill".

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956) - prose writer, poet and playwright, classic of 20th century literature, author of the famous Winnie the Pooh.
An English writer of Scots descent, Alan Alexander Milne spent his childhood in London. He studied at a small private school owned by his father, John Milne. One of his teachers in 1889-1890 was H.G. Wells. Then he entered Westminster School, and then at Trinity College Cambridge, where he studied mathematics from 1900 to 1903. As a student, he wrote notes for the student newspaper Grant. He usually wrote with his brother Kenneth, and they signed the notes with the name AKM. Milne's work was noticed, and the British comic magazine "Punch" began to cooperate with him, later Milne became assistant editor there.
In 1913, Milne married Dorothy Daphne de Celincourt, goddaughter of magazine editor Owen Seaman (who is said to have been the psychological prototype of IAI), from which one son, Christopher, was born.
A born pacifist, Milne was drafted into the Royal Army and served in France. Later he wrote the book Peace with Honor, in which he condemned the war.
In 1926, the first version of the Bear with sawdust in his head (in English - Bear-with-very-small-brains) - "Winnie the Pooh" appeared. The second part of the stories, "Now there are six of us", appeared in 1927, and the final part of the book "House on the Pooh Edge" - in 1928. Milne never read his own stories about Winnie the Pooh to his son, Christopher Robin, preferring to educate him on the works of the writer Woodhouse, beloved by Alan himself, and Christopher first read poems and stories about the Pooh bear only 60 years after their first appearance.
Before the books about Winnie the Pooh were published, Milne was already a fairly famous playwright, but the success of Winnie the Pooh has acquired such proportions that other works by Milne are now practically unknown. Worldwide sales of books about Pooh the bear, translated into 25 languages, from 1924 to 1956. exceeded 7 million, and by 1996 about 20 million copies were sold, and only by Muffin (this figure does not include publishers in the United States, Canada and non-English-speaking countries). A 1996 poll by English radio found the book about Winnie the Pooh ranked 17th on the list of the brightest and most significant works published in the twentieth century. In the same year, Milne's favorite teddy bear was sold in London at Bonham's auction to an unknown buyer for £ 4,600.
In 1952, Milne underwent brain surgery, after which he spent four years, until his death, at his estate in Catchford, Sussex.