Continuing on the celebration of all things Pooh Bear (because, shouldn't it really be Winnie-the-Pooh weekend rather than just Winnie-the-Pooh day (yesterday)?)...the CBC website posted 90 weird and wonderful facts about Winnie the Pooh and here are a few:
- Christopher Robin invented voices and personalities for his stuffed animals, which inspired his father.
- The real Winnie (the black bear at the London Zoo and friend to Christopher Robin) died in 1934, living to be 20 years of age — that's two years older than the average American black bear would live to be in the wild.
- Winnie-the-Pooh has been translated in over 50 languages, including Catalan, Thai, Esperanto and Latin.
- In a new collection of stories to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh in 2016, Pooh makes a new friend: Penguin.
- The Hundred Acre Wood characters Owl and Rabbit were the only two that weren't inspired by Christopher Robin's toys. Instead their characters came from real animals on Cotchford Farm, the Milnes' property in Sussex.
- Pooh Bear met the Queen (and her great-grandson Prince George) outside Buckingham Palace, and presented her with a special hum song for her 90th birthday.
- You can send birthday cards to Winnie-the-Pooh courtesy of the New York Public Library, where Christopher Robin's original stuffed bear lives.
- White River, Ont. — where the original Winnie was first found as a cub by Harry Colebourn — holds an annual Winnie-the-Pooh festival in August. The 2016 edition included a historical re-enactment of the original purchase of Winnie, as well as a parade, a fish derby, a spaghetti supper and bingo.
- Ryerson University in Toronto worked with Colebourn's great-granddaughter, Lindsay Mattick, to curate a special exhibition devoted to the real story of Winnie. Here's a video about the project.
- Forbes magazine has ranked Winnie-the-Pooh as the second most valuable children's character in the world, after Mickey Mouse.
- Thanks to an epic merchandising empire, Winnie-the-Pooh is estimated to be worth £3.75 billion annually ($6.3 billion CAD). In comparison, the Queen is estimated to be worth about £350 million annually ($588 million CAD).
- Winnie-the-Pooh is the Patron Saint of Teddy Bears.
A.A. Milne's birthday is January 18th and is therefore Winnie-the-Pooh Day!
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From Wikipedia: The first collection of stories about the character was the book "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926), and this was followed by "The House at Pooh Corner" (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book "When We Were Very Young" (1924) and many more in "Now We Are Six" (1927). All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.
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Christopher Robin's toy bear, on which his father's character is based, was named after two different animals--a swan named Pooh and a black bear at the London Zoo named Winnie, after her first caretaker's hometown of Winnipeg.
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More from Wikipedia: The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for $20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River, Ontario, Canada, while en route to England during the First World War.[5] He named the bear "Winnie" after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "Winnie" was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much-loved attraction there.[6] Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.
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From Wikipedia: The first collection of stories about the character was the book "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926), and this was followed by "The House at Pooh Corner" (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book "When We Were Very Young" (1924) and many more in "Now We Are Six" (1927). All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.
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Christopher Robin's toy bear, on which his father's character is based, was named after two different animals--a swan named Pooh and a black bear at the London Zoo named Winnie, after her first caretaker's hometown of Winnipeg.
*
More from Wikipedia: The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for $20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River, Ontario, Canada, while en route to England during the First World War.[5] He named the bear "Winnie" after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "Winnie" was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much-loved attraction there.[6] Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.
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