A reminder that the protagonist of the Pooh stories was a real person:
In the case of Christopher Robin at least we have a little window into
the human test-tube: for CR wrote a book describing the hell of being
Christopher Robin, The Enchanted Places (1974)... It seems that writing the books was essentially an excuse not to be with
his son, or perhaps better, to be with him in a different way...
He helped his father with plot lines – there really is a Poohsticks Bridge; he put on a Pooh play with some children in the Hundred Acres Wood for his parents and assorted friends.
However, imagine his dismay at arriving at boarding school – a long
way from Hogwarts unfortunately – and immediately being known as ‘that
Christopher Robin’. A record had been made of A.A.Milnes’ poem Vespers and some of CR’s classmates took to playing it again and again in the evening.
In pessimistic moments, when I was trudging London in search of an
employer wanting to make use of such talents as I could offer, it seemed
to me, almost, that my father had got to where he was by climbing upon
my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and had
left me with nothing but the empty fame of being his son.
Further details at
Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog.
This reminds me of a play that's currently on stage in London (sadly I haven't seen it) called Peter and Alice, about a meeting between the real life inspirations for Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland (here's a review: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/9952907/Peter-and-Alice-Noel-Coward-Theatre-review.html). It's supposed to be terribly sad. It doesn't seem like things went well for any of these children.
ReplyDeleteBoo-hoo, what a miserable childhood. (Insert sarcasm here.) At least he had enough to eat and didn't worry about bombs falling on his street.
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