A.A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was a playwright. I should modify that a little, he was a playwright until the success of his stories about Winnie the Pooh. 

He also wrote ‘Toad of Toad Hall’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’, ‘Wurzel-Flummery’ and many other stories.

Born in 1882 he lived in Hampstead, England, but he died farther up the road in Hartfield in 1956.

His stories are still immensely popular and many of them have been adapted into movies. Most of them are based on Winnie the Pooh and his friends but there is also a ‘Christopher Robin’ film.

Surprisingly there are also movies made in the 1920s and 1930s of his stories. There is also a short film of thirty-two minutes entitled “How Do You Spell God?” made in 1996 whose cast of three includes Hayden Panettiere of ‘Heroes’ fame.

His stories, particularly those of Winnie the Pooh and the wonderful ‘Toad of Toad Hall’ need no embellishment here. They are justifiably famous and well read.

What appears to be less well known is that AA Milne also wrote short verses for children.

I have owned, since I was a very small boy, a book of verse by AA Milne.

After almost seventy years of ownership it is now in a somewhat disreputable condition having been pored (pawed?) over by many children and read from by many adults to children.

I should like to share a few of these little gems with you now.

Cover of the Book

Title Page

(Note that it is the thirty-fifth edition)

One of AA Milne's most Favoured Poems

I Know That a Few of my Friends Will Like This One

One of My Personal Favourites When I was Small

My Grandad, Rest His Dear Soul!

 I hope that these verses gave you some pleasure as they have done for children and adults over the years. 

Note that both the verses and the illustrations come from a gentler age. An age when children were children and not small adults.