ME MILNE’S BOTHERSOME MUSE
con, Winnie-the-pooh is
The Beatles.
earts as children, he continues ds through the Hundred Acre od, a kind-hearted companion n yet much apparent wisdom.
bear whose name he shares 0th birthday this weekend, the
adventures with Christopher eyore and Tigger remain as crative – as ever. e innocence of Pooh’s simple
f family rifts and court battles. st of all is the impact his fame boy who was his original comeason the books came to be. since the real-life Christopher
handed an 18-inch tall Alpha London firm JK Farnell, as a rst birthday.
Edward Bear and his dad, -playwright Alan Alexander already 39 – was so taken with en Christopher and his teddy ed him in his 1924 collection
hen We Were Very Young. oving to East Sussex the next
Milne wrote two children’s red around the cuddly toy, his anion Christopher Robin and
s in the Hundred Acre Wood. woodland was based on Five Wood in the Ashdown Forest, cottage on Cotchford Farm.
rting cast of Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger were also based on oys, with Rabbit and Owl commilne’s imagination.
stories, the author renamed d bear – choosing Winnie after
n black bear at London Zoo. ond part of the name was from icknamed “Pooh” by young
er. Winnie-the-pooh was pub1926, followed by The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.
A second collection of poems in between was called Now We Are Six.
The books were instant hits, appealing to a simplicity and innocence British society craved after the dark days of war.
It left Milne and illustrator EH Shepard much in demand – with fans also keen to meet nd the heart-warming tales. y young Christopher found beo the spotlight hard to handle.
n fame led to him being buloh’s legacy would haunt him of his life. In his 1974 memoir nted Places, he wrote of the
fist-clenching, lip-biting em” his dad’s writing caused him.
of it came at boarding school. t led to a “love-hate relationntinued to this day”. home I still liked [Christopher
lt at times quite proud I shared as able to bask in some of his
, however, I began to dislike
At home I felt proud… at school I began to
dislike him
him and I found myself disliking him more and more. Was my father aware of this? I don’t know.”
While friendships are at the heart of the stories, Christopher found his relationships with other children becoming strained, and his home life was far from perfect.
His mum Daphne was cold and distant, while his dad had suffered shell-shock during the First World War and was difficult company.
Christopher had more affection for his nanny, Olive Brockwell, only bonding with his father after he started at boarding school.
Adoring
He said: “For nearly 10 years I had clung to Nanny. For nearly 10 more years I was to cling to him – adoring him as I had adored Nanny, so that he too became almost a part of me.”
But it was not just Christopher who resented the characters – his father came to as well. The books’ success torpedoed his career as a playwright, taking him in an unwanted direction.
By 1931 the Pooh franchise was worth £30million a year. The US rights had been bought a year before for just £600 by producer Stephen Slesinger, leading to the first doll, board game, puzzle and movie.
Milne refused to write any more children’s books, citing his
“amazement and disgust” at the effects on his son.
He said: “I feel the legal
Christopher Robin has already had more publicity than I want for him. I do not want
CR Milne to ever wish that his name were
Charles Robert.”
But the damage was done. Christopher became estranged from his parents, insisting he felt no anger towards them but upset that his childhood had been exploited.
His dad died in 1956, having had only occasional visits, and mum
Daphne saw him just once in her final 15 years of life – refusing to see him on her deathbed.
By then the franchise had become a money-making juggernaut. In 1961, Slesinger’s widow Shirley had licensed some of the rights to Walt Disney.
It led to a series of feelgood animated movies, including 1974’s Winnie-the-pooh and Tigger Too. Merchandise started flying off shelves all over the world.
Then in 1991 Stephen Slesinger Inc filed a lawsuit claiming Disney had failed to pass on the full 2% stipulated in their licensing contract.
Disney was slammed by a judge for destroying 40 boxes of evidence – and the Slesinger firm got in hot water when an investigator was caught rummaging in its rival’s rubbish for the missing files.
The case dragged on for 18 years, by which point the Pooh brand was worth around £4billion.
Yet the money being made meant little to the boy who first held the stuffed bear in his hands.
Christopher refused to receive any royalties from his dad’s books.
At 27 he married his cousin, Lesley de Sélincourt. They moved to Dartmouth, Devon, to open a bookshop and had a daughter, Clare. He never returned to the woods that inspired so many tales.
Christopher died aged 75 on April 20, 1996, having given away all his childhood toys. He once said: “When I was three, my father was three. When I was six, he was six. He needed me [so he could] escape from being 50.”
feedback@people.co.uk
I don’t want CR Milne to wish he were ‘Charles
Robert’