Alan Alexander Milne is the author and creator of Winnie the Pooh, he was born on the January 18, 1882 in Hampstead, London. He was the youngest of three and his education continued from Henley House where his father was headmaster to Trinity College. He graduated from Trinity College with a degree in mathematics in 1903.
Milne started his first literary efforts through the publication of the humorous magazine 'Punch', where he started working as Assistant Editor in 1906. In 1913, Milne married Dorothy de Selincourt, the God-daughter of Punch editor, Owen Seaman.
Milne joined the army as a Signalling Officer during the First World War. He was eventually put in charge of the signalling at Fort Southwick until his discharge from the army in February 1919. After the Army, Milne resigned his position at Punch and focused writing plays.
In 1924, Milne published a book of children's poetry entitled 'When we were very young', with drawings created by Ernest Shepard. The book includes a poem about a teddy bear who "however hard he tries, he grows tubby without exercise". This was Winnie the Pooh's first unofficial appearance in A.A. Milne's writing. However, it was not until 1925 that Winnie the Pooh came into being when Milne made a contribution to the Christmas Eve issue of the Evening News. This was a bedtime story he made up for his son, the story told of adventures his son and his son's teddy bear would have. The teddy bear was known as Winnie the Pooh, the setting of the story was inspired by the families new home, the cottage at Cotchfield farm in Sussex. The bedtime story formed the first chapter of Milne's next book entitled 'Winnie the Pooh' (1926). The book was followed by the verses 'Now We are Six' (1927), and 'The House at Pooh Corner' (1928). In an attempt to shield his son from the publicity generated by he success of the Pooh stories, Milne announced that 'The House at Pooh Corner' would be his last Christopher Robin book.
He did not read the Winnie the Pooh stories to his son instead read the works of P.G. Wodehouse, one of Milne's favourite authors. Although Milne went on to write other plays and novels, these Pooh stories remain his best known work. For many years, Milne himself resented the fact that his literacy fame was based on children's books, not on his other work. Unfortunately, after a long illness, he died on 31st January, 1956.