| History | Christopher Robin Milne was born in Chelsea, London in 1920, the only child of Alan Alexander Milne and his wife, Dorothy de Selincourt.
Many of A A Milne's poems feature Christopher Robin in some form, or began as stories he told to his son.
Christopher's childhood teddy bear inspired his father's creation of the fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh. The toy's name was originally Mr Edward Bear, but this was superseded by Winnie in honour of the famous black bear at London Zoo. The unusual epithet relates to young Christopher's name for a pet swan.
Both Shepard and Milne agreed that Christopher's own bear was not suitable as the basis for Shepard's illustrations, so Shepard looked elsewhere and used his son, Graham's, teddy bear, Growler. Christopher Milne maintained a friendly relationship with Shepard, exchanging letters with him until his death.
[Campbell, J (2017) 'The Art of Winnie-the-Pooh: How E H Shepard Illustrated an Icon'. London: LOM Art. pp25-138]
Milne began studying at Gibbs School in London, before moving to Boxgrove Preparatory School in Guildford in 1929. When he was 13, he moved to Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. In 1939, he won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, to study Mathematics.
Signing up following the outbreak of World War II, Milne was unable to join the army for medical reasons. However, with his father's influence he received a commission with the Royal Engineers and was posted to Italy and the Middle East. While serving, Christopher began to resent his role in the success of his father's books.
After the war, he returned to Cambridge and graduated with a degree in English. In July 1948, Christopher married Lesley de Selincourt, his first cousin. This began a rift with his mother, who was not fond of her brother, Lesley's father. Milne and his wife founded the Harbour Bookshop in Dartmouth in 1951.
In 1956, Lesley gave birth to a daughter, Clare, who was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy. On reaching adulthood, Clare established a charity for the disabled.
Milne wrote and published three autobiographical books: 'The Enchanted Places' in 1974, 'Path Through the Trees' in 1979, and 'Hollow on the Hill' in 1982.
Once A A Milne became ill, Christopher visited him occasionally, but after his father's death, he did not meet his mother again. She refused to see him even when on her deathbed.
Christopher Robin Milne died in his sleep in April 1996, aged 75, in Totnes, Devon.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robin_Milne, accessed 14/11/2017] |