(Because that’s all a Bear of Very Little Brain can remember!)

It all began in 1921 when young Christopher Robin Milne received a teddy bear named Edward as a gift for his first birthday. Over the next few years, he added other stuffed toys to his collection, which grew to include a donkey, a kangaroo or two, a pig, and a striped tiger. Owl and Rabbit were based on animals that lived near the author’s Cotchford Farm in East Sussex.

When Christopher was four, he went to the London Zoo and struck up a friendship with a Canadian black bear named Winnie, short for his hometown of Winnipeg. This fascination led the boy’s famous father, noted playwright / journalist A. A. Milne, to invent a wonderful series of stories and books.

The books were written at the suggestion of the author’s wife, Daphne. On December 24, 1925, the first Pooh story was published in the “London Evening News.” It had the descriptive title “In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories Begin.” The story proved to be so popular that it was broadcast by BBC radio the following day, Christmas Day.

The first Disney Pooh featurette, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree,” was released in 1966. Through the years, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Heffalump and the Hundred Acre Wood gang have appeared in many videos, educational films,
holiday specials and a TV series.