Today is the birthday of A.A. Milne (1882-1956), the British writer who created one of the greatest children's characters of all-time: Winnie the Pooh.
Alan Alexander Milne (shown here with his son Christopher Robin) started his career as a writer for the humor magazine Punch, and also penned plays, essays, short stories and a detective novel, according to the Just-Pooh website. A pudgy, gentle bear showed up in a 1924 book of poems, "When We Were Very Young," and its success led Milne to write more of Christopher Robin, Pooh and their friends in the 100-Acre-Wood.
The stories were always favorites at bedtime with my children -- and sparked lots of games of Pooh Sticks on the local streams. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the one book that came loaded on my iPad was "Winnie-the-Pooh." Some things are truly timeless.