On this day in history : 8th October 1908 – Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s book ‘The Wind in the Willows’ is published – and has never been out of print since….
Image credit : Paul K via Flickr
Kenneth started work at the Bank of England in 1879 – from a junior position he worked his way up through the ranks, eventually to become Secretary of the Bank….
Kenneth Grahame in 1910 – Public domain
In 1899 he married Elspeth Thomson and they had one son, Alistair – a sickly child, born premature, blind in one eye and suffering ill-health all his life…. His parents gave him the affectionate nickname of ‘Mouse’….
When the boy was around 4-years-old his father began to tell him bedtime stories, about four animal friends – Toad, Badger, Ratty and Mole…. When Kenneth was away from home, (often on the boating holidays he enjoyed so much), he would write home to Alistair – his letters full of more tales of the four friends…. The child was quite a headstrong and wayward boy – and Kenneth based the character of Toad on him…. Ratty was based on a good friend of his – fellow writer Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch….
Image credit : Julie Sweeney via Flickr
In 1908 Kenneth retired early from the Bank due to ill-health…. The family moved to Crookham in Berkshire – the area where Kenneth had spent much of his childhood…. In his retirement he spent much of his time by the banks of the River Thames…. Having decided to develop his tales of Toad, Badger, Ratty and Mole he no doubt drew much of his inspiration from the river….and giving us the children’s book ‘The Wind in the Willows’ that we all grew up with and loved so much….
Ratty and Mole – Image credit : Amber Case via Flickr
Sadly Alistair, who was an under-graduate at Oxford University at the time, committed suicide on a railway track five days before his 20th birthday….
On this day in history : 15th June 1911 – Anglican cleric, railway enthusiast and children’s author – best known for his creation ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ – the Reverend W. Awdry is born….
The Reverend Wilbert Awdry OBE in 1982 : Image credit – Jamie Spilsbury CC BY-SA 4.0
Wilbert Vere Awdry was born at Ampfield Vicarage near to Romsey in Hampshire – his father was the Anglican Vicar of Ampfield…. The family moved to Box in Wiltshire and lived in a house, ‘Journey’s End’, which was just 200yds from Box Tunnel on the Great Western Railway…. Wilbert would lie in his bed at night and listen to the freight trains; he got to know their whistles and felt each engine had its own personality…. He heard them ‘snorting’ up the steep incline and listened for the conversations they held between themselves….
Wilbert was educated at Marlborough House in Kent, Dauntsey’s School in Wiltshire and then attended Oxford…. Afterwards he was to teach for three years before becoming ordained into the Anglican Church…. He became curate for St. Nicholas’ Church, Kings Norton, Birmingham and then Rector at Elmsworth and Knapwell, Cambridgeshire…. After a term as Rural Dean at Bourn he became Vicar of Emneth in Norfolk…. He retired in 1965 and settled in Rodborough, near to Stroud, Gloucestershire….
It was when his son, Christopher, caught measles in 1943 that Wilbert began to make up stories about trains to keep the boy amused…. After he had written ‘The Three Railway Engines’, which was published in 1945, he built Christopher a model of ‘Edward’ out of a broomstick and some scraps of wood…. He also added some trucks and carriages….
Edward – Reverend Wilbert Awdry – Fair useGordon – Reverend Wilbert Awdry – Fair use
Christopher was eager to have a model of ‘Gordon’ as well – but this proved difficult because of the size…. So, Wilbert built a smaller model….and ‘Thomas’ came to be…. Christopher wanted more stories about Thomas, which led to ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ being published in 1946…. By the time Wilbert had stopped writing in 1972 there were 26 books in the Railway series….Christopher went on to add to these books….
Thomas the Tank Engine – fair use
Wilbert remained a railway enthusiast; he volunteered as a guard on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales and was involved in railway preservation work…. He was awarded an OBE in 1996 but by now his health was failing and he was unable to make the journey to London to receive it personally…. He died peacefully in Stroud on the 21st of March 1997….
Reverend Awdry in May 1988 on the Talyllyn Railway with ‘Peter Sam’, one of his creations – Photo credit: Voice of Clam CC BY-SA 3.0
Thomas the Tank Engine will bring back memories for so many of us….either from our own childhoods or those of our children…. I, for one, have a son who was absolutely obsessed – we still have many of the books and somewhere in the loft is a huge collection of die-cast models…. In October 1984 a TV series was developed by Britt Allcroft – with the voice of Ringo Starr telling the stories…. Thomas videos seemed to play on a constant loop in our house…. Oh! And that wretched theme tune….I never have quite managed to get it out of my head!
On this day in history : 18th January 1882 – The birth of Alan Alexander Milne….who brought to us that loveable little bear Winnie the Pooh….
Winnie the Pooh Image credit: Paul K via Flickr
A.A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London and attended Westminster School and later Trinity College, Cambridge – graduating with a B.A. in mathematics….
Whilst at University he edited and wrote for a student magazine – and it wasn’t long before he came to the attention of British humour publication ‘Punch’…. A.A. Milne became a contributor to the magazine and went on to become its assistant editor….
A.A. Milne in 1922. Public domain
In 1913, just before the First World War, Milne married Dorothy (Daphne) de Selincourt…. As war broke out he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as an officer – but his suffering of a debilitating illness meant a transfer to the Royal Corps of Signals…. After receiving an injury at the Battle of the Somme he was invalided back to England…. Once he had recovered he spent the remainder of the war in military intelligence, writing propaganda for MI7….
In August 1920 a son, Christopher Robin, was born to the Milnes….and in 1925 the family moved to a new country home – Cotchford Farm, Hartfield, East Sussex. The farm lay adjacent to the northern edge of Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest….which became Milne’s inspiration for his Hundred Acre Wood, the home of Winnie the Pooh and his friends….
Milne and his son Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear, at Cotchford Farm, their home in Sussex. Photo by Howard Coster, 1926. Fair use.
Christopher Robin owned a teddy bear, purchased in Harrods of London – and given to him as a first birthday present in 1921…. Originally the bear was called ‘Edward’….but he underwent a name change…. The Milnes were frequent visitors to London Zoo – and it was there that Christopher Robin fell in love with a certain Canadian black bear – called Winnie….so named for her previous owner….who came from Winnipeg, Canada….
Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn had bought the bear as a cub from a hunter for 20 dollars…. Lt. Colebourn was on route to England during WW1….and the bear cub became the unofficial mascot for the Fort Gary Horse Regiment – a Canadian Army Reserve armoured regiment….
Harry Colebourne and Winnie, 1914
It was whilst the regiment were away in France that Winnie came to be in London Zoo, as she was left there for safe-keeping. Once the war was over she was officially donated to the zoo and became a much-loved attraction….
The other part of Winnie the Pooh’s name came from a swan called Pooh that the Milnes encountered on a family holiday….
Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh Image credit: Thoth God of Knowledge via Flickr
As we know Winnie the Pooh is usually shortened to just ‘Pooh’….and this might be the reason why….
“But his arms are so stiff….they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh”…
Pooh’s friends – Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger are all based on Christopher Robin’s other stuffed toy animals….Owl and Rabbit came from Milne’s imagination…. The original toys, Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger and Kanga (unfortunately Roo got lost) can be seen at the New York Public Library – as they were gifted to them by American publisher E.P. Dutton in 1987…. They now receive over 750,000 visitors a year….
Original Winnie the Pooh stuffed toys : Clockwise from bottom left : Tigger, Kanga, Edward Bear (a.k.a. Winnie the Pooh), Eeyore and Piglet
On this day in history : 14th January 1898 – the death of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – who under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll brought us ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and its sequel ‘Through the Looking-Glass’…
Charles was born on the 27th of January 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire; the son of a parson, he came from a large family, being the third of eleven children…. The Dodgson family had their roots in Northern England but also had Irish connections….
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – 2nd June 1857
Until the age of 12 Charles was educated at home; he was then sent to Richmond Grammar School and then on to Rugby…. In January 1851 he went into residency at Oxford University – where he was to remain in varying capacities all of his life…. A stained-glass window at Christ Church College can be seen that depicts a White Rabbit and Alice holding a flamingo….
Charles studied mathematics at Oxford – such was his talent that he won the Christ Church Mathematics Lectureship in 1855, which he held on to for 26 years….
Throughout his life Charles did not enjoy the best of health; he was deaf in one ear after a childhood fever – and whooping-cough had left him with a weak chest…. Later in life he suffered debilitating migraines….he also had a life-long stutter….
Although we always associate Lewis Carroll with ‘Alice in Wonderland’, which was published in 1865 and its sequel ‘Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There’ in 1872 – there was so much more to the man. He wrote twelve works of literary fiction and a further eleven books on mathematics…. He was a poet, philosopher, satirist, inventor and photographer….
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – self portrait
Charles had written short stories and poetry from an early age….and had successfully had some published in magazines and national publications…. It was in 1856 that he wrote for the first time under the pen name of ‘Lewis Carroll’ – a poem entitled ‘Solitude’…. The pseudonym came from the anglicised ‘Ludovicus’ (which in turn came from the Latin for ‘Lutwidge’) to give ‘Lewis’ – whereas ‘Carroll’ is an Irish surname – similar to the Latin ‘Carolus’ – from which we get ‘Charles’….
Although Charles always claimed his character of Alice was not based on any one particular child – there are many who believe she was a real person….and with good reason…. Charles became close to the Liddell family, Henry Liddell being Dean of the College. Charles was especially good friends with the Dean’s wife, Lorina and their three daughters, Lorina, Edith and ‘Alice’….and it is perhaps ‘she’ who was his influence…. Indeed the poem at the end of ‘Through the Looking-Glass’‘A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky’ is an acrostic spelling out ‘Alice Pleasance Liddell’….
Alice Liddell – taken by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson circa 1858
Even after his success and his increase in wealth and fame (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is translated into over 70 languages) little changed in his life…. He continued to teach at Christ Church and remained in residence until his death ~ although as he got older he did spend more of his time at the house of his six unmarried sisters – ‘The Chestnuts’ in Guildford….
Two weeks before his 66th birthday Charles died from pneumonia after a bout of influenza – at ‘The Chestnuts’…. He is buried at Mount Cemetery, in Guildford….
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson taken by Oscar G Rejlander
On this day in history : 9th May 1935 – The birth of author and illustrator of children’s books, Roger Hargreaves – best remembered for his much loved Mr Men and Little Miss series of stories….
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Charles Roger Hargreaves was born in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire and attended Sowerby Bridge Grammar School…. He then spent a year working in the family laundry and dry cleaning business before going to work in advertising….
Roger wrote his first Mr Men story – ‘Mr Tickle’ – in 1971…. It came about when his 8-year-old son asked him what a tickle looked like…. In response he drew a figure with a round orange body and long bendy arms – and so the first Mr Men character was born….
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At the time Roger was the Creative Director of a London advertising company…. He had some difficulty in initially finding a publisher for his books but once he did success came quickly…. In three years more than one million copies had sold…. 1974 saw the BBC animated Mr Men series, narrated by Arthur Lowe – and by 1976 Roger had given up his advertising career to concentrate on his writing…. The Little Miss books were launched in 1981 and they too were made into a TV series in 1983 – this time narrated by husband and wife team John Alderton and Pauline Collins….
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In all there were 46 Mr Men and 33 Little Miss books…. With over 100 million books being sold Roger was to become Britain’s third best selling author of all time…. His other works included the 25 book series ‘Timbuctoo’, ‘The Roundy and Squary’ books, ‘John Mouse’, ‘Hippo Potto and Mouse’ and the ‘Veggie Fruits’ – but it is undoubtedly the Mr Men and Little Miss stories that won so many hearts….
Between 1975 and 1982 Roger and his wife Christine lived on Guernsey with their four children – Adam, Giles and twins Sophie and Amelia – upon whom ‘Little Miss Twins’ was based…. The family then moved to Cowden in Kent…. On the 11th of September 1988 Roger was to die suddenly following a stroke – he was aged just 53…. After his death his son, Adam, continued his work – and in April 2004 Christine sold the rights to the characters to the Chorion entertainment group….
Cottage Capers 