Christopher Robin Milne

Christopher Robin Milne
Young Milne with Pooh Bear
Born	(1920-08-21)21 August 1920 Chelsea, London, England
Died	20 April 1996(1996-04-20) (aged 75)
Spouse(s)	Lesley de Sélincourt (1948)
Children	Clare Milne
Parent(s)	A. A. Milne Dorothy de Sélincourt

Christopher Robin Milne (21 August 1920 – 20 April 1996) was the son of author A. A. Milne. As a child, he was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father's Winnie-the-Pooh stories and in two books of poems.

Christopher Robin Milne was born at 11 Mallord St, Chelsea, London to author Alan Alexander Milne and Dorothy Milne (née de Sélincourt). He was delivered by Bessie Bashford, a midwife trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London who had moved in with the couple a month before the birth of their baby. His parents had expected the baby to be a girl, and had chosen the name Rosemary. When it turned out to be a boy, they initially intended to call him Billy, but decided that would be too informal. They gave him two first names to help distinguish him from other Milnes; each parent chose a name. Although he was officially named Christopher Robin, his parents often referred to him as "Billy". When he began to talk, he pronounced his surname as Moon instead of Milne. After that, his family would often call him "Billy", "Moon", or "Billy Moon". In later life, he became known as simply "Christopher".

On his first birthday, he received an Alpha Farnell teddy bear he called Edward. This bear, along with a real Canadian bear named "Winnipeg" that Milne saw at London Zoo, eventually became the inspiration for the Winnie-the-Pooh character.

Although Milne spoke self-deprecatingly of his own intellect, referring to himself many times as "dim", he was intelligent for a boy of his age. The reason for his denying his intelligence was his ability to solve complex equations with little or no difficulty but his having to concentrate on much simpler ones.

From his mother, Milne acquired a talent for working with his hands. He owned a small tool kit, which he used to disassemble the lock on his nursery door when he was seven years old. By the age of 10, he had modified the works of a grandfather clock and altered a cap gun so that it would shoot real bullets.

In his childhood, Milne was fond of being associated with his father's books, and helped him to write a few of the stories. Once, he went so far as to organise a short play for his parents, re-enacting a story about himself and his friends in the woods. However, after starting school, he was mocked by his peers, who recited passages from the books, particularly from the poem Vespers: "Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! Christopher Robin is saying his prayers." Milne therefore grew to resent the attention his father's success had brought him.