I just learned something incredible!
By The Horse
@TheHorse (238268)
Walnut Creek, California
November 14, 2019 1:52pm CST
Maybe there IS order in the universe. Sometimes I think it's all random, and I get a bit depressed.
But I just leaned something interesting: Three of my favorite authors in the history of my life, Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), P. G. Wodehouse (Bertie Wooster and his butler, Jeeves) and A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh) played on a cricket team together in Britain in the early 20th Century.
What led me to this? The claim by one of my co-teachers at the preschool in Martinez CA that each of Milne's characters in his Winnie the Pooh stories represent a different psychological disorder.
After reading up on this (most of the diagneses discussed did not exist when Milne wrote his Pooh stories--I see Milne's characters as simply representing different personality types), I wound up reading about Milne's life.
I am a former baseball player (the American equivalent of cricket), and love (especially British) humor that pokes fun at the human condition while simultaneously embracing humans.
Could there be a reason I am drawn to Milne, Wodehouse, and Doyle?
19 people like this
18 responses
@WorDazza (15826)
• Manchester, England
14 Nov 19
Conan Doyle and A A Milne are also great favourites of mine. As a massive cricket fan I'm surprised I've never come across that little nugget before.
Eeyore is by far my favourite A A Milne character. Not sure if that's significant!!
4 people like this
@TheHorse (238268)
• Walnut Creek, California
14 Nov 19
@WorDazza Gloomy. When I hear that word, I think of Eeyore. Here's a thought (relating to weather): What are so many of the best American musicians actually Canadian? (Ferron, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn, etc.)
3 people like this
@LadyDuck (502148)
• Italy
15 Nov 19
So you surely know that Allahakbarries was an amateur cricket team where many authors played, not only those you mentioned here but also Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, , Walter Raleigh, A. E. W. Mason.... well the list is long. Those who pretend to "interpret" what the authors wrote and why usually make me smile. Authors write mainly for their pleasure, the others want to give an intellectual form to very simple novels.
3 people like this
@LindaOHio (222222)
• United States
14 Nov 19
I'd like to hear more about your co-teachers theories! I don't know why you'd be drawn to them. They're definitely all different. Cute meme.
3 people like this
@TheHorse (238268)
• Walnut Creek, California
14 Nov 19
@LindaOHio To me, Milne just captures different personality types...worriers, over-protective parents, those with disthymia, the existentially happy (Tigger), etc. Pooh is the Buddhist, or Taoist, or Hindu. Be in the moment. It's OK.
2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (49753)
• India
17 Nov 19
Well wikipedia gets me there :
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Allahakbarries was an amateur cricket team founded by author J. M. Barrie, and was active from 1890 to 1913. The team was named by Barrie, both after himself and in the mistaken belief
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (49753)
• India
17 Nov 19
Cricket Match?? That is remarkable!! Do you have any details of those cricket matches? Cricket was much more popular in England in the early 20th century. The current revived English team is strong, though the financial hub of cricket has steered more towards India and to some extent Australia.
You make some very interesting observations about Milne. Also, I would now perhaps like to purchase and read some of his works. I hope I get them at a cost effective price on Amazon.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
14 Nov 19
Maybe because you are all of those disorders all wrapped into @The Horse I always hear birds of a feather flock together.
But what if you don't flock, like me? Just a plain weirdo?
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (93194)
• Bangalore, India
24 Dec 19
I love the picture and the cute conversation
Diagnosis have come in recent times. Earlier people accepted things as a matter of fact and weird was the word for everything that was not a norm. I feel we all have some or other psychological disorder within us. We all are weird in our own way but some are more than others.
Diagnosis have come in recent times. Earlier people accepted things as a matter of fact and weird was the word for everything that was not a norm. I feel we all have some or other psychological disorder within us. We all are weird in our own way but some are more than others.1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
15 Nov 19
that my friend could be the reason! Or that you like dry british humor!
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238268)
• Walnut Creek, California
14 Nov 19
Very interesting! Did he play cricket too? I'll have to look him him up. I beleive that the fella who played the Dr. in "House" (one of my favorite American TV shows in recent years) was Bertie Wooster in a British adaptation of Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
14 Nov 19
Incidentally I don't think it's incredible that these authors knew each other (maybe were even friends). The authors JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis and other writers were also friends, as were the physicists Neils Bohr and Ernest Rutherford. It's quite natural for people with shared interests to stimulate and encourage each other.
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9308)
• Canada
14 Nov 19
Are you not also a psychologist who works specifically with children? That is interesting. Those authors and their characters may have planted a seed that you in turn nurtured into the amazing persona we all know and love as 'Horse'.
1 person likes this
