Winnie the Pooh

The teddy bear that Christopher Robin Milne received for his first birthday did not start out with the name of Winnie the Pooh. Pooh originally belonged to a swan.... And Winnie originally came from a bear at the London Zoo that Christopher Robin used to play with.

Winnie was brought to England in 1914 by an army officer named Harry Colebourn. Colebourn had been trained at the Ontario Veterinary College and was attached with the 34th Regiment of Cavalry. On his way to join the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade and to embark to England for the war, his train stopped at White River, Ontario. There, Lt. Colebourn bought a small female black bear cub from a hunter who had killed its mother. Colebourn named the bear Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg. The bear became a mascot for the Brigade and followed the soldiers throughout their camp on the Salisbury Plain.

When the Brigade was called to action in France, Lt. Colebourn took Winnie to the London Zoo for a long loan. Colebourn survived the war and formally presented the London Zoo with Winnie in December 1919. Winnie became a popular attraction and lived until 1934.

The bear was Christopher Robin's favorite at the zoo, and he often spent time inside the cage with it.

~Text from pooh-corner.org.

Photo from pooh-corner.org.

You can see how similar the live Winnie above is to the illustrated Winnie below.

Illustration from half-asleep.com.

Here's Christopher Robin playing with the live Winnie.

Photo from pooh-corner.org.

And here he is with his stuffed Winnie.

Photo from rakkav.com.

Comments

[ffleur]

Great post Minnie!

I knew Winnie was named after Winnipeg and came with a Cdn soldier and that Christopher Robin met him at the London Zoo. I did not know that CR actually played with Winnie. Wow - that is some tame bear. They would never do that now.

My personal preference has always been the original drawings which you have used in some of your graphics. The Disney version is cute, but as usual they have "humanized" him by giving him a shirt.

[Minnie]

ffleur, you always crack me up. Yep, the Disney fellow (whom my bear Winnie and I call our cousin Vinnie) wears a shirt. He's soooo Hollywood. I prefer the Shepard drawings too, but I couldn't resist putting that gif of Vinnie with the balloon. :)

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[Dods]

What Christopher Robin Milne received in the past has turned to be the very interesting symbol of children interest and fondness. Lots of people in the world have regarded Winnie the Pooh as part of their childish life, including me personally of course. Thanks for nice posting. Winnie the pooh coloring pages