A.A.Milne and the Great War

[seaJane]

In the DT:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/britain-at-war/10015206/Agony-of-AA-Milne-the-reluctant-wartime-propagandist-and-the-lies-about-German-atrocities.html

"Poems about to be thrown into a skip written by AA Milne reveal he served in a MI7 propaganda unit during the First World War and had grown frustrated at having to 'lie about German atrocities'”.

[daggers]

Now you mention that, I think his name was in some list or other, possibly on this forum in the last week or so.

D

Added

I cannot find by using the searchj facility. It may have been in a printed list, attached.

[Alan Tucker]

Before going into Intelligence he served as a signalling officer in the 11th Warwicks - his war ended with really bad trench fever at the Battle of the Ancre, November 1916

In the comments following the Telegraph article there is this example of the garbage we will constantly see over the next five years.....

Tanneradozen

Today 12:32 PM

To me it was a great atrocity to make 18 year old boys walk to their deaths facing machine guns and slaughter at the rate of 60000 a day during battles.

It was also a great outrage that British General Sir Douglas Haig signed the death warrants for 223 Commonwealth 18-20 year old soldiers because they suffered PTSD or deserted or mutinied against the senseless slaughter.Haig doesn`t deserve his statue in Trafalgar Square and AA Milne realized he was part of the problem not the solution. The first WWI was one of the greatest crimes against humanity and against 18-20 year old young men and the Plutocrats in Britain and Europe should all be ashamed of themselves,yet the Plutocrats and Royals dedicated statues in their dubious sychophantic "hono

[seaJane]

A follow-up article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/britain-at-war/10017954/AA-Milne-may-not-have-liked-MI7-but-propaganda-played-a-vital-wartime-role.html

[geraint]

His book Peace With Honour, published in 1934, explains in detail his pacifism, and is well worth perusing.

[JimSmithson]

Oh my goodness. Alan's post has led me to follow the comments thread; I now need a stiff drink and a sit down. The character you quote Alan goes on at length later on whilst an intelligent, clearly knowledgeable person tries to put him right. The exchange is a classic - do read it for amusement. The best bit is when the idiot tries to retort over the sensible person's comment that his English is not very good by telling him he has spelled preceding wrong by telling him it is preceeding - brilliant! I would not like to meet tanneradozen, I think I might kill him.

Jim

[centurion]

"Poems about to be thrown into a skip written by AA Milne reveal he served in a MI7 propaganda unit during the First World War and had grown frustrated at having to 'lie about German atrocities'".

Pooh sighed life was so boring and lonely now the war had taken them all away from the Hundred Acre Wood. Eeyore was a Lt General now, which must be interesting chasing after Heffalumps with all those lions, and Piglet was fitting in very well as a staff officer. Roo had joined the ANZACs of course whilst irrepresible Tigger was still bouncing around thinking up new wheezes for Churchill. Pooh knew he was a bear with very little brain and big maps confused him but he did think that he would have made as good a general as that chap Hunter Bunter. But no here he was stuck in this dreary office, he brightened, surely it was time for another honey sandwich? Honey sandwiches always cheered him up. Alas Rabbit had introduced a rationing system because of U boats and thanks to the Heffalumps there was no more honey to be had. Pooh sighed again and pulled his wrting pad towards him, nothing left to do but go on making up stories about Heffalumps

[seaJane]

Oh my goodness. Alan's post has led me to follow the comments thread; I now need a stiff drink and a sit down.

One reason why I tend to ignore comments threads and "Have your say" - bad for my blood-pressure!

[better ole]

I hope Steven is writing a stiff letter to the editor! Agreed we are going to see the same old stories countless times over the next 5 years. Maybe we need to avoid the media until 2020, blood pressures should have returned to normal by then.

[CarylW]

Very interesting Jane. I think I'll have to take up skip-diving as a hobby! So much that was nearly lost forever seems to be rescued from skips nearly every week. Hate to think of what really has been lost forever in that way

[seaJane]

Agreed Caryl... I know someone who rescued some 18th-century books that had been in a library before it was "streamlined"....

[loganshort]

Once saw some interesting drawings Milne made during the war of panoramic views of the

French countryside in the direction of German trenches with landmarks hilighted to assist gunners. It was not just bears and honey!

[seaJane]

He was a well-known playwright before the Pooh books took off - like Kenneth Grahame and Wind in the Willows. I don't expect either of them thought they would chiefly be remembered by books that were essentially a family in-joke. I've occasionally wondered whether Hugh Lofting (who wrote the Dr Doolittle books after experiencing the War) was likewise known for other writing beforehand.

[PHall]

His book Peace With Honour, published in 1934, explains in detail his pacifism, and is well worth perusing.

Agree. Still worth the read.

[DaveBrigg]

From A Full Heart

In days of peace my fellow-men

Rightly regarded me as more like

A Bishop than a Major-Gen.,

And nothing since has made me warlike;

But when this agelong struggle ends

And I have seen the Allies dish up

The goose of Hindenburg—oh, friends!

I shall out-bish the mildest Bishop.

When the War is over and the Kaiser's out of print,

I'm going to buy some tortoises and watch the beggars sprint;

When the War is over and the sword at last we sheathe,

I'm going to keep a jelly-fish and listen to it breathe.

I never really longed for gore,

And any taste for red corpuscles

That lingered with me left before

The German troops had entered Brussels.

In early days the Colonel's "Shun!"

Froze me; and, as the War grew older,

The noise of someone else's gun

Left me considerably colder.

When the War is over and the battle has been won,

I'm going to buy a barnacle and take it for a run;

When the War is over and the German Fleet we sink,

I'm going to keep a silk-worm's egg and listen to it think.

The Captains and the Kings depart—

It may be so, but not lieutenants;

Dawn after weary dawn I start

The never-ending round of penance;

One rock amid the welter stands

On which my gaze is fixed intently—

An after-life in quiet hands

Lived very lazily and gently.

When the War is over and we've done the Belgians proud,

I'm going to keep a chrysalis and read to it aloud;

When the War is over and we've finished up the show,

I'm going to plant a lemon-pip and listen to it grow.

Oh, I'm tired of the noise and the turmoil of battle,

And I'm even upset by the lowing of cattle,

And the clang of' the bluebells is death to my liver,

And the roar of the dandelion gives me a shiver,

And a glacier, in movement, is much too exciting,

And I'm nervous, when standing on one, of alighting—

Give me Peace; that is all, that is all that I seek…

Say, starting on Saturday week

A.A. Milne

[StuartAB]

Here A A Milne comments on "Class Barriers" in the "Cheltenham Looker On", May 1918.

Stuart

[RupertDubrecht]

E H Sheppard the illustrator earned an MC

[David Ridgus]

He was a well-known playwright before the Pooh books took off - like Kenneth Grahame and Wind in the Willows. I don't expect either of them thought they would chiefly be remembered by books that were essentially a family in-joke. I've occasionally wondered whether Hugh Lofting (who wrote the Dr Doolittle books after experiencing the War) was likewise known for other writing beforehand.

SeaJane

Only just spotted this thread. I know a little about Lofting as I researched him for the "Who is this?" thread.

In fact although his brother was a novelist, Lofting had not written professionally before the war. He was a civil engineer until signing up with the Irish Guards. The first Doolittle book was published in 1920 made up of the letters he had sent his children from the Front.

David

[seaJane]

Thanks for that David - interesting.

[michaeldr]

A A Milne is to feature in a new exhibition at the IWM: see https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/09/aa-milne-letter-features-in-imperial-war-museums-anti-war-show

which in turn led me to the Royal Signals Museum website and some further snippets on Milne and MI7b [ see http://www.royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk/a-a-milne/ ] which may be of interest.

[geraint]

Dave Brig post# 15

Excellent poem! Thanks for posting!

[seaJane]

13 hours ago, michaeldr said:

A A Milne is to feature in a new exhibition at the IWM: see https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/09/aa-milne-letter-features-in-imperial-war-museums-anti-war-show

which in turn led me to the Royal Signals Museum website and some further snippets on Milne and MI7b [ see http://www.royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk/a-a-milne/ ] which may be of interest.

Thanks Michael!