Christopher Robin Milne

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Christopher Robin Milne (August 21, 1920 – April 20, 1996) was the son of author Alan Alexander Milne and Dorothy de Selincourt. As a young child, he was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father's Winnie-the-Pooh stories and in two books of poems.

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[edit] Early life

Christopher Robin Milne was born at 11 Mallord St, Chelsea, London at 8 a.m. His parents had decided that the baby was going to be a girl and that she would be called Rosemary; when it turned out to be a boy, they initially intended to call him Billy. However, they decided that this name was too informal. Finally, they decided to give the child two first names to help distinguish him from other Milnes, so each parent chose a name.

Although he was officially named Christopher Robin, his parents often referred to him as "Billy." When he began to talk, he pronounced his surname as Moon instead of Milne. After then, his family would often call him "Billy", "Moon", or "Billy Moon!" instead of Christopher Robin. In later life, he became known just as Christopher.

On his first birthday, he received an Alpha Farnell teddy bear he called Edward. This bear, along with a real bear named "Winnie" that Milne saw at the London Zoo, eventually became the inspiration for the character of Winnie-the-Pooh. Edward the teddy bear was about two feet tall, light in color, frequently losing his eyes, and a fairly constant companion to Milne.

As was customary for upper-middle class people at the time, Milne was brought up by a nanny. Meetings with his parents were restricted to short periods just after breakfast, at tea time and in the evening just before he went to bed.

[edit] Schooling

Milne was a shy boy and did not like the attention that he received from the public because of his father's success with the Pooh books. He first attended Gibbs School, an independent school in London, in 1929. His father also announced that The House at Pooh Corner would be the last Christopher Robin book. The popularity of the Pooh books however made it almost impossible for Milne to enjoy a 'normal' life even though no more Pooh books were written.

From Gibbs, Milne went on to Stowe School, an independent boys' school in Buckinghamshire, where he learned to box as a way to defend himself from the taunts of his classmates. In 1939 he won a fellowship to read English at Trinity College, Cambridge.

[edit] Later life

It wasn't long before the Second World War broke out, leading Milne to leave his studies and attempt to join the army. He was disappointed when he learned that he had failed the medical examination and was therefore turned down. His father then used his influence to get Milne a position with the second training battalion of the Royal Engineers. He received his commission in July 1942 and was posted to the Middle East and Italy.

Although Milne had always had a close relationship with his father, this bond was broken by his time away and he began to resent what he saw as his father's exploitation of him. He also came to hate the books that had thrust him into the public eye. After being discharged from the army he went to Cambridge to complete his studies. There he graduated with a Third Class Honours degree in English.

On July 24, 1948 Milne married his first cousin Lesley Selincourt. His mother Dorothy (née de Selincourt) disliked this, partly because she did not get along with Lesley's father, Aubrey de Selincourt (1894–1962), the classical scholar and translator, who was her brother. Dorothy had wanted Christopher to marry his childhood friend, Anne Darlington. In 1951 Milne and his wife moved to Dartmouth to start the Harbour Bookshop. This was fairly ironic since he resented the fame that came to him from his father's books. However, Milne's career as a bookseller turned out to be a success. Dorothy thought the decision very odd, inasmuch as Milne didn't seem to like "business" and would have to meet Pooh fans all the time. While both of these factors would cause them frustrations, Milne and Lesley successfully ran their bookshop for many years – and that without any help from royalties from sales of the Pooh books. Milne returned occasionally to visit his father after the elder Milne became ill, but once his father died he did not visit his mother again in the fifteen years up to her death.

A few months after Alan's death in 1956, Milne and Lesley's daughter, Clara Milne, was born. The fears of Milne's parents for his and Lesley's future offspring had proved justified; Clara was born with severe cerebral palsy. Milne was able to give her as much independence as possible, using his mathematician's brain and woodworker's hands.

In 1974 Milne decided to publish the first of three autobiographical books. The Enchanted Places gave an account of his childhood and of the problems that he had encountered because of the Pooh books.

Milne battled for some years with myasthenia gravis, a neurological disease, and died peacefully in his sleep on April 20, 1996. His life was celebrated in a small Quaker gathering of family and friends.

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Enchanted Places, (Dutton, 1975)
  • Path Through the Trees, (Dutton, 1979)
  • Hollow on the Hill, (Methuen, 1982)
  • Windfall, (Methuen, 1985)
  • Open Garden, (Methuen, 1988)
  • Beyond the World of Pooh, Edited by A.R. Melrose (Dutton, 1998)

[edit] References

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