Editing A. A. Milne (section)

==Early life and military career==
[[File:A. A. Milne plaque.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Plaque commemorating Milne's birthplace in [[Kilburn, London]] ]]
Alan Alexander Milne was born in [[Kilburn, London]],<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35031?docPos=2|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35031}}</ref> to John Vine Milne, who was born in [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]],<ref>Thwaite, Ann. A.A. Milne: His Life. London: Faber and Faber, 1990. ISBN 0571138888 p. 8</ref> and Sarah Marie Milne (née Heginbotham), on 18 January 1882. He grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, a small [[independent school]] run by his father.<ref name="ODNBthwaite" /> He taught himself to read at the age of two. One of his teachers was [[H. G. Wells]], who taught there in 1889–90.<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22657 | year = 1989 | title = Hampstead: Education | journal=A History of the County of Middlesex | volume = 9 | pages = 159–169 | access-date = 9 June 2008 }}</ref> Milne attended [[Westminster School]] and [[Trinity College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{acad|id=MLN900AA|name=Milne, Alan Alexander}}</ref> where he studied on a mathematics scholarship, graduating with a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in Mathematics in 1903, though he was always interested in writing. He edited and wrote for ''[[Granta]]'', a student magazine.<ref name="ODNBthwaite">{{cite ODNB|last=Thwaite|first=Ann|title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|location=Oxford, England|date=January 2008|chapter=Milne, Alan Alexander (1882–1956)|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35031 }}</ref> He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor. Considered a talented [[cricket]] fielder, Milne played for two amateur teams that were largely composed of British writers: the [[Allahakbarries]] and the [[Authors Cricket Club|Authors XI]]. His teammates included fellow writers [[J. M. Barrie]], [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] and [[P. G. Wodehouse]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8662375.stm "What is the connection between Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes, Winnie the Pooh and the noble sport of cricket?]. BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2014</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Parkinson |first=Justin |date=26 July 2014 |title=Authors and actors revive cricket rivalry |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27903864 |work= BBC News Magazine|access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref>

Milne joined the [[British Army]] during [[World War I]] and served as an officer in the [[Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers|Royal Warwickshire Regiment]]. He was commissioned into the 4th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, on 1 February 1915 as a [[second lieutenant]] (on probation).<ref name="LG 16 February 1915">{{London Gazette |issue=29070 |date=16 February 1915 |page=1563 }}</ref> His commission was confirmed on 20 December 1915.<ref>London Gazette. issue 29408 17 December 1915. Retrieved 26 February 2015</ref> He served on [[Battle of the Somme|the Somme]] as a signals officer from July–November 1916, but caught [[trench fever]] and was invalided back to England. Having recuperated, he worked as a signals instructor, before being recruited into military intelligence to write propaganda articles for [[MI7|MI7 (b)]] between 1917 and 1918.<ref>Thwaite, Ann. A.A. Milne: His Life. London: Faber and Faber, 1990. ISBN 0571138888 pp. 172–185</ref> He was discharged on 14 February 1919,<ref>{{cite book| last = Finch| first = Christopher| title = Disney's Winnie the Pooh: A Celebration of the Silly Old Bear| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aJt8beaKgb8C&pg=PA18| year = 2000| publisher = Disney Editions| isbn = 978-0-7868-6352-5| page = 18 }}</ref> and settled in [[Mallord Street]], [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]].<ref>{{cite news |title=For sale: Winnie-the-Pooh creator A&nbsp;A Milne's home |date=27 March 2013 |author= Davidson, Max |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/9957606/For-sale-Winnie-the-Pooh-creator-A-A-Milnes-home.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130328070614/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/9957606/For-sale-Winnie-the-Pooh-creator-A-A-Milnes-home.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 28 March 2013 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location= London}}</ref> He relinquished his commission on 19 February 1920, retaining the rank of lieutenant.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31786 |supp=y|page=2036|date=17 February 1920}}</ref>

[[File:Harrods of Knightsbridge, London, SW1 - geograph.org.uk - 3262290.jpg|thumb|upright|In 1921, Milne bought the 18-inch Alpha Farnell teddy bear for his son (who would name it Edward, then Winnie) from [[Harrods]] department store ''(pictured)'' in London.<ref>{{cite news |title='Winnie the Pooh' has an enchanting heritage |url=https://www.licensingsource.net/indepth/winnie-the-pooh-has-an-enchanting-heritage/ |access-date=16 June 2022 |work=Licensing source}}</ref>]]
After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled ''Peace with Honour'' (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's ''War with Honour''.<ref name="ODNBthwaite" /><ref>Capitalization as in the [[British Library]] Catalogue</ref> During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of fellow English writer (and Authors XI cricket teammate) P. G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the [[Nazism|Nazis]] and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend (e.g. in ''[[The Mating Season (novel)|The Mating Season]]'') by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his stuff."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theparisreview.com/media/3773_WODEHOUSE.pdf |title=The Art of Fiction – P.G. Wodehouse |access-date=22 May 2008 |year=2005 |work=The Paris Review |page=18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529040738/http://www.theparisreview.com/media/3773_WODEHOUSE.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2008 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

Milne married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt (1890–1971) in 1913 and their son [[Christopher Robin Milne]] was born in 1920. In 1925, Milne bought a country home, [[Cotchford Farm]], in [[Hartfield]], [[East Sussex]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=618520#|title=Cotchford Farm|work=National Monument Records|publisher=[[English Heritage]]|access-date=29 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012054412/http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=618520|archive-date=12 October 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During World War II, Milne was a captain in the [[British Home Guard]] in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain "Mr. Milne" to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid; and by August 1953, "he seemed very old and disenchanted."<ref>{{cite web | title=Letter La Z 5 July 1917 – John Middleton Murry to Beatrice Elvery |date=12 August 1953 |url=http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/lss/services/mss/collections/online-mss-catalogues/cats/laz4-5cat.html#laz57 |publisher=George Lazarus Collection |access-date=9 June 2008 }}</ref> Milne died in January 1956, aged 74.<ref>Jill C. Wheeler (2010). "A. A. Milne." p. 21. ABDO Publishing Company,</ref>