[1] Earl De La Warr was educated at Eton College, and fought in World War II, attaining the rank of captain in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army.
[citation needed] They had three children:[1] In September 1981, the Earl allowed Doctor Who to film on his large tranche of Ashdown Forest for the episode "Black Orchid".
[3] In the autumn of 1987, the earl offered to sell that forest, the direct inspiration for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, to the East Sussex County Council at a below-market price of £1.2 million for the 6,500 acres (2,600 ha).
[6][7] Milne himself joined conservationists to prevent the forest from being sold piecemeal to private owners, and to oppose BP's plan to prospect and extract oil there.
[5] On 9 February 1988, at age 66, Earl De La Warr died after falling under a train at the St James's Park station of the London Underground.