Christopher Robin Milne
Christopher Robin Milne (born August 21, 1920 in Chelsea , London , † April 20, 1996 in Totnes , Devon ) was a British author and, as the son of AA Milne, role model for the literary character Christopher Robin in the books about Pooh the Bear .
Life
childhood
Christopher Robin Milne was born on the morning of August 21, 1920 at 11 Mallord Street in Chelsea , London . His father was the author and co-editor of the satirical magazine Punch A. A. Milne (1882-1956) and his mother Dorothy de Sélincourt (1880-1971).
As was common at the time, Christopher Robin Milne was raised by a nanny, Olive "Nou" Brookwill. He lived with her in "a large kindergarten on the top floor". He spent most of his childhood in her care until he attended boarding school from May 1930 . However, he rarely saw his parents and accordingly spent little time with them.
Actually, his parents had been looking forward to a daughter named Rosemary. Christopher Robin was called first "Billy", later "Moon", because that was how he pronounced his last name.
At his first birthday, he received a Teddy Bear brand Alpha Farnell purchased at Harrods , and he named him Edward. He and the bear Winnipeg from the London Zoo and a swan named Pooh were the models for the book character Winnie-the-Pooh (English Winnie-the-Pooh ).
Milne described himself as "very shy" at the time and "girlish" because of his hairstyle and clothing. He was good at handicrafts.
In 1925 Milne's father bought Cotchford Farm , a country house near Hartfield , Sussex . They spent their summers, Easter, holidays and weekends there. The country house was near the Ashdown Forest Conservation Area , the landscape of which inspired Milne to create the Hundred Acre Woods , home of Pooh Bears. The characters Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga and Klein-Ruh as well as Tiger were also based on soft toys. Rabbits and owls (also Oile) had been invented by AA Milne and his wife Daphne and Christopher Robin, inspired by the animals that live there. Locations in the Hundred Acre Wood (based on the 500 Acre Wood ), including this one, are also based on real-world locations in Ashdown Forest. Gills Lap became Galleon's Lap , a few fir trees near Cotchford Farm became the Six Pine trees, and an old walnut became Pu's house. A bridge over the Medway became the Pustöckchen bridge. Kanga and Klein-Ruh only appear in later chapters of the books and Tiger only in Pooh builds a house , as they were later gifts from Milne's parents. Milne himself described Cotchford Farm as follows: "So there we were in 1925 with a cottage, a little bit of garden, a lot of jungle, two fields, a river and then all the green, hilly countryside beyond, meadows and woods, waiting to be explored. " (So in 1925 we had a cottage, a bit of garden, a lot of jungle, two fields, a river and then all the green, hilly landscape behind it, meadows and forests that were waiting to be discovered.)
In 1926 his father published Pooh the Bear , in 1928 Pooh is building a house . All of a sudden, Christopher Robin Milne was famous. He initially enjoyed the fame and the feeling of being known. After his nanny left the farm in 1930, his relationship with his father grew over the next ten years.
School education
From the age of 6, Christopher attended Miss Walters' School . From January 1929 he attended Gibbs , a boys' school in Sloane Square . From May 1930 Milne attended the Boxgrove School near Guildford . Milne was harassed at boarding school because some of his classmates were jealous of him. Eventually, in 1939, Christopher Robin received a math scholarship to the Stowe School . In August 1942 he finally left Cotchford Farm to study mathematics at Cambridge .
Next life
In 1941, after the outbreak of World War II , Milne dropped out of Cambridge to join the army, but initially failed the medical exam. His father's influence gave Christopher a position as a pioneer with the Royal Engineers . After the war he returned to Cambridge and graduated in English literature because he wanted to be a writer. But this career aspiration was denied to him, since in England in the post-war period no literature was needed from a "children's book character."
Christopher married his cousin Lesley de Sélincourt on July 24, 1948; his parents disapproved of the wedding. In 1951 Milne and his wife moved to Dartmouth , where they founded the Harbor Bookshop on August 25th . His mother was very surprised, as her son would meet so many Pu fans and be harassed by them.
Milne occasionally visited his father after he became ill, but after his father died he did not see his mother until her death in 1971; even when she was on her death bed , she refused to see her son. A few months after his father's death in 1956, Milne's daughter, Clare, was born and suffered from severe cerebral palsy . She later ran a charity for the disabled called the Clare Milne Trust. She passed away in 2012.
After his father died in 1956, Christopher never returned to Cotchford Farm. His mother eventually sold the farm and moved to London after disposing of her husband's personal belongings. Milne wrote several books in which he described his childhood, the relationship with his parents and the books. Since he was only ever seen as a boy in the Pooh books, he felt "trapped in an eternal childhood". Therefore, the shy and shy man began to hate the books and his parents too.
Milne gave the original stuffed animals to the editor of the books in 1987, who in turn donated them to the New York Public Library , where they can still be viewed today. Milne didn't like that the Winnie the Pooh franchise was being commercialized. But in the end he seemed to be reconciled with his parents and the books.
Milne worked secluded as a carpenter and bookseller in Devon .
death
Milne, who had suffered from myasthenia gravis for several years , died on April 20, 1996 in Totnes , Devon, at the age of 75.
Works (selection)
- The Enchanted Places. Methuen, 1974, ISBN 978-0-14-003449-3
- Path Through the Trees. Dutton, 1979, ISBN 978-0-525-17630-5
- Hollow on the Hill. Methuen, 1982, ISBN 978-0-413-51270-3
- The windfall. Methuen, 1985, ISBN 0-413-58960-9
- The Open Garden. Methuen, 1988, ISBN 0-413-40800-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christopher Robin Milne: The Enchanted Places . Dutton & Co. Inc., 1975, ISBN 0-525-29293-4 , pp. 19, 21, 55, 97, 104 .
- ^ History of Winnie the Pooh | Winnie the Pooh. Retrieved April 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Christopher Robin Milne: The Enchanted Places . Dutton & Co. Inc., 1975, p. 37-41, 96 .
- ↑ Christopher Robin Milne: The Enchanted Places . Dutton & Co. Inc., 1975, p. 42, 55, 58, 65, 77, 127 .
- ↑ Christopher Robin Milne: The Enchanted Places . Dutton & Co. Inc., 1975, p. 23, 49, 90-91, 121 .
- ↑ Christopher Robin Milne: Path through the Trees . 1979, ISBN 0-7710-6049-1 , pp. 3-5 .
- ↑ Thwaite, Ann .: AA Milne: his life . Faber, London 1991, ISBN 0-571-16168-5 .
- ↑ clare-milne-trust. Retrieved April 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau: Children's book: Winnie the Poohs sad friend . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . ( fr.de [accessed on April 3, 2018]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Milne, Christopher Robin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 21, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chelsea , London |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 20, 1996 |
| Place of death | Totnes , Devon |