Reading Maketh a Full Man...

An interesting biography of Alan Milne, creator and author of the children's classics "Winnie the Pooh". Alan's childhood was idyllic. His father ran a boys school and treated the boys (his own children as well as the students) with love and affection. Alan's older brother Ken was his best friend and close companion growing up, and because Ken was always loving and kind to Alan even when his own abilities were overshadowed, they remained very close until Ken's untimely death from TB at the age of 47. Alan Milne came to hate Winnie the Pooh, even while the children's books made his fortune. His son, Christopher Robin, known to the family as Billy Moon (Moon was his baby attempt to pronounce "Milne"), also came to hate the series and hate his part in the poems and stories. (imagine going to boarding school and hearing the taunts of the other boys as they recited "Christopher Robin goes hoppity-hoppity-hop" to him.) Alan Milne was never taken seriously as a playwright or author after he wrote the Pooh books. Forever would he be seen only as a children's author and writer of light verse. Billy Moon, Alan's son, became estranged from his father and after his father's death did not see his mother for the remaining 15 years of her life.I remember reading about many child actors who ended up badly when they became adults, or ended up in court against their parents struggling to escape from their management. It seems that Billy Moon fits into that category also, sadly.