Everybody Loves Winnie-the-Pooh and Friends
Thursday, January 26th, 2012Our favorite bear of all lives deep within the woods and that dear friend is, Winnie-the-Pooh. One of the most beloved characters of Disney is a teddy bear named Winnie-the Pooh. The birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh is sometimes in question. Some argue that Winnie’s birthday is 1921. That’s the year the author of these popular children books, A.A. Milne, made sure a bear was given to his little boy, Christopher Robin, for his first birthday. Because of those facts Pooh was 91 years old in 2012.
Others argue that Pooh was not born until 1925, which was the year he started being called Winnie Pooh, not Edward Bear.” That would put Winnie at 87 years old. A.A. The argument was settled by Milne when he wrote about the birthday in a conversation Pooh and Christopher Robin have.
In this conversation Christopher Robin asks Pooh bear to remember him forever, even if he lives to be a hundred years old. Pooh happily agrees, but is still curious to know how old that would make him. That is when Christopher Robin explains to Pooh he would then be 99 years old. Sadly, Christopher Robin died at 75 years old, but nevertheless Pooh kept his promise and never forgot him. It’s true, pooh is now 90 years old and he and Christopher Robin will remain in the hearts of Winnie the Pooh fans for evermore!
The Start of Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie was actually named after a couple of animals liked by the Milne family. There was a bear in the London Zoo named Winnie and a swan names pooh who like at the lake near their home. It’s not clear why Christopher Robin changed the name of his bear from Edward Bear to Winnie-Pooh.
It all began when Alan Milne would tell Christopher Robin a bedtime story about his Pooh bear. When Alan was asked by a publisher of London Evening News for a Christmas Eve story, Alan’s wife, Daphne, told him as well to write a new bedtime story about Winnie-Pooh. The story was so popular it became the first chapter of the book, “Winnie-the-Pooh.”
There was another book called “When We Were Young” and it introduced all the neighbors of Pooh bear: Eeyore, the sad donkey, Piglet, the very timid, stuttering baby pig, Kanga, The sweet and lovable kangaroo mom and Roo, her son. Tigger, Rabbit and Owl were later created by Milne because they were not a part of Christopher Robin’s nursery. The world loved the idea of the teddy bear and his friends and over 150,000 copies were sold in the US alone by the end of 1926.
“Now We Are Six” was published in 1927 and sold 94,000 copies in England in the first two months of its release. Finally the last book, in 1928, added Tigger to the group of friends, and was called “The House at Pooh Corner”.
The Reasons People Love Winnie-the-Pooh
The friendship of Winnie-the-Pooh is limitless as he does anything to help those he cares about. He is always seen on his way to melancholy Eeyore’s house or one of his other friends to help them out of a dilemma. His wit may not always be the best, but the way he cares always gets him through. The object lessons learned from Pooh will continue from now on, just as they have the past 90 years.
To discover more about Winnie the Pooh and everything else to do with adorable teddy bears and more, be sure to check out Teddy Bears Paradise at www.iloveyouletsmeet.com
And here is one of my favorite Pooh videos, featuring Owl, who is probably my favorite Pooh character..