David Benedictus is an English-Jewish writer and theatre director, best known for his novels. His most recent work is the Winnie-the-Pooh novel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood. It was the first such book in 81 years. He was educated at Eton College, Oxford and the University of Iowa. His first novel The Fourth of June was a best seller and he adapted it for the London stage. It has hust been republished by Valancourt Books. His second novel, You're a Big Boy Now, was made into a 1966 feature film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He was an assistant to Trevor Nunn at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also worked as a commissioning editor for Drama at Channel 4, and ran the Book at Bedtime series for BBC Radio 4. He previously wrote and produced audio readings of the Pooh stories, with Judi Dench as Kanga and Geoffrey Palmer as Eeyore. He sent the trustees of the A. A. Milne estate two sample stories of his sequel, and it took more than eight years for them to approve the project. Although he made some changes in the popular children's series by adding a new figure: Lottie, the Otter. 

September 16th, 1938 in London  /  Died:   Oct 9th, 2023 - aged 85