January 18: In Honor of Winnie the Pooh Day

On this day in 1882, Alan Alexander Milne was born in Kilburn, London, England. Best known as English author A. A. Milne, he is the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh.
As a youngster Milne attended an independent school run by his father John. One of Milne's teachers was H. G. Wells (years before his great success as a science-fiction author). Milne later attended college where he studied mathematics while writing for and editing a student magazine. Upon graduating he began writing for the popular British humor magazine Punch. One of his published works for the magazine was a collection of poetry for children titled When We Were Very Young.
But Milne would have his greatest success with the creation of a "bear with very little brain" modeled after his own son's stuffed teddy and his fascination with a real bear at the London Zoo. In fact his son Christopher Robin played a great and significant role in these stories as well.
Winnie-the-Pooh was first published in book form in 1926 with a follow-up two years later titled The House at Pooh Corner. Sadly the success of these books became a source of considerable annoyance to both he ... and his son. Pooh overshadowed all of Milne's other novels and poems and as an adult, Christopher Robin had problems coping with his "embarrassing" literary fame.
After Milne's death in 1956, his widow sold the rights to Disney ... and the rest is history.

Oh bother ... click HERE for more January 18 Disney history.