During World War I, troops from the town of Winnipeg in Manitoba were traveling east across Canada on their way to Europe when they stopped in White River, Ontario. Here, Lieutenant Harry Colebourn spent $20 on a small female black bear cub, which he bought from a hunter who had killed the mother of the young animal. Colebourn named the bear after his hometown of Winnipeg, and called her “Winnie” for short. She soon became the mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade and even traveled with the troops to England. But it was wartime, and soon the troops had to depart from England for France. Colebourn left his baby bear in the able care of the London Zoo.

In 1919, Colebourn formally gave Winnie to the London Zoo, where she became a popular attraction, especially for a little boy named Christopher Robin. Christopher loved the bear so much that he even changed his own teddy bear’s name from “Edward Bear” to “Winnie the Pooh.” Pooh was actually the name of a swan that lived near the country home where Christopher lived with his family, including his father, author A.A. Milne. Their home in Ashdown Forest, in Sussex, was called Cotchdown Farm and was the inspiration for the Hundred-Acre Wood, the setting of Milne’s stories about the adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and their friends.

Many of the other characters were also based on Christopher Robin’s stuffed animal toys, including Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga, and Roo. The characters of Rabbit and Owl were based on other animals living near Cotchdown Farm. Winnie the Pooh was first published on October 14, 1926 by Meuthen. Milne continued writing verses of Pooh stories and released Now We Are Six in 1927 and The House at Pooh Corner in 1928. The stories became wildly popular in England and have been translated into many languages so that children and parents the world over can enjoy them. Milne wrote many more Pooh stories, and E.H. Shepard did all of the illustrations.

Walt Disney’s daughters became big fans of the books, and so, on June 16, 1961, Disney bought the film rights from Milne’s wife, Daphne, for A.A. Milne had passed away in 1956. The first Winnie the Pooh film from Disney was a featurette called “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree,” which was based on a few chapters of the original Winnie-the-Pooh book and debuted on February 4, 1966. Even more popular than the first, the second featurette, “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,” won a 1968 Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject. A third featurette called “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too” was released in 1974, and finally in 1977, the first feature-length film featuring Pooh was released, entitled The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Later, another featurette and a cartoon series were produced, but the next feature film didn’t show up until 1997, when Pooh’s Grand Adventure was released. In 2000, Disney came out with The Tigger Movie, starring – you guessed it – Pooh’s sidekick, Tigger.

Today, Pooh is almost as well-known and well-loved as Mickey himself. Of course, the “Disney Pooh” has come a long way from the original Winnie the black bear cub in White River, Ontario! Pooh and his friends have been merchandised extensively, appearing on clothing, school supplies, bedding, statues, utensils, and especially toys. After all, A.A. Milne’s inspiration was his son’s stuffed animals.