Milne called her Nou, and stated "Apart from her fortnight's holiday every September, we had not been out of each other's sight for more than a few hours at a time", and "we lived together in a large nursery on the top floor.

Edward, along with a real Canadian black bear named Winnipeg that Milne saw at London Zoo,[6][7] eventually became the inspiration for the Winnie-the-Pooh character.

Several poems by Milne's father, and several illustrations by E. H. Shepard, feature Darlington and Milne, notably "Buttercup Days", in which their relative hair colours (brown and golden blond) and their mutual affection is noted (the illustration to this latter poem, from Now We Are Six, also features the cottage at Cotchford Farm).

As Milne described it, "So there we were in 1925 with a cottage, a little bit of garden, a lot of jungle, two fields, a river, and then all the green, hilly countryside beyond, meadows and woods, waiting to be explored."

His toys, Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, plus two invented characters, Owl and Rabbit, came to life through Milne and his mother, to the point where his father could write stories about them.

[15][16] Milne later described the poem "Vespers" – about the toddler Christopher Robin saying his evening prayers – as "the one [work] that has brought me over the years more toe-curling, fist-clenching, lip-biting embarrassment than any other.

"[17][16] Milne earned a mathematics scholarship at Stowe School, where he was relentlessly bullied, and wrote: "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 the empty fame of being his son.

[20][21] When World War II started, Milne left his studies and tried to join the British Army, but failed the medical examination.

He spent a period in London trying to readjust to "civvy street" by finding gainful employment, but his social status worked against him.

This turned out to be a success, although his mother had thought the decision odd, as Milne did not seem to like "business", and as a bookseller he would have to meet fans of his father's work.

As Milne describes it, that book, The Enchanted Places, "combined to lift me from under the shadow of my father and of Christopher Robin, and to my surprise and pleasure I found myself standing beside them in the sunshine able to look them both in the eye".

Milne gave the original stuffed animals that inspired the Pooh characters to the books' editor, who in turn donated them to the New York Public Library; Marjorie Taylor recounts in her book Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them how many were disappointed at this, and Milne had to explain that he preferred to concentrate on the things that currently interested him.

[33] Milne is portrayed by Will Tilston and Alex Lawther in Goodbye Christopher Robin, a 2017 film which was "inspired by" his relationship with his father.