David Benedictus

David Henry Benedictus (16 September 1938 – 4 October 2023) was an English writer and theatre director, best known for his novels. His work included the Winnie-the-Pooh novel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood. It was the first such book in 81 years.

Life Born on 16 September 1938 to chartered accountant Henry Jules Benedictus and Kathleen Constance (née Ricardo). He was educated at Eton College, Balliol College, Oxford, and the University of Iowa.

Benedictus 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. However, Publishers Weekly was cool on the book, describing it as "largely forgettable" and as missing "the charm of the first book".

Benedictus commented on his work in 1985, "Given peace of mind, financial independence, and a modicum of luck, I may produce a novel to be proud of one day." In March, 2014, he moved to Hove, a resort on the south coast of England, to be close to his extending family. He has four children, Jolyon Maugham KC, a barrister, Leo a journalist and novelist (The Afterparty, his first novel, was published by Jonathan Cape), Chloe a psychodynamic psychotherapist, and Jessica Campbell, a theatre producer.

Benedictus published an autobiography, Dropping Names, in 2005. According to an interview Benedictus gave to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot in 2009, he said that a cousin had done research into his surname and found out that it was actually "Baruch" (ברוך - having the same meaning as "Benedictus" in Hebrew), as well as research into how his ancestors emigrated to Britain, which revealed that they have Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

Benedictus died suddenly on 4 October 2023, at the age of 85.