Milne, A(lan) A(lexander) (1882–1956)

English writer. He is best known as the author of Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), based on the teddy bear and other toys of his son Christopher Robin, with illustrations by E H Shepard. He also wrote children's verse, including When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are Six (1927). He was an accomplished dramatist whose plays included Wurzel-Flummery (1917), Mr Pim Passes By (1920), The Dover Road (1922), and Toad of Toad Hall (1929), an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.

Some critics have seen in the Pooh series a parallel with Milne's rejection of Christianity – but not of his belief in God – in that Pooh and Piglet take comfort in a god, Christopher Robin, whom the reader knows to be a thoughtless child who cannot even spell.

Milne was born in London and educated at Westminster and Cambridge University, where he studied mathematics. He was assistant editor of Punch from 1909–14, to which he contributed a number of pleasing articles in a light, bantering vein. He also wrote essays, including the volume The Day's Play (1910). His other plays include The Romantic Age (1920), The Truth about Blayds (1921), The Ivory Door (1927), Other People's Lives (1932), Sarah Simple (1937), and Gentleman Unknown (1938).