Alan Alexander Milne was born in London in 1882. He was a writer for the humour magazine Punch and a successful playwright when his son, Christopher Robin, was born in 1920.

The stories he made up about his son's toy bear became Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926, with drawings by E. H. Shepard, followed by The House at Pooh Corner. They made Milne famous, though he always wished to be remembered for his other work too. He died in 1956.