One of the cuddliest holidays around has to be Winnie the Pooh Day. OK it may not be an actual holiday but it is the day many Pooh fans celebrate the birthday of author A A Milne.
Winnie the Pooh first appeared in 1926, together with his friends Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore.
All of them were based on toys owned by the author’s son, who also featured in the famous stories as Christopher Robin. The character later starred in a series of much-loved Disney films.
One extra-special way to mark the day is to visit Pooh Corner in Hartfield, East Sussex, where the books were written. You can pick up a map to follow in the characters’ footsteps, and even play a game of Poohsticks on the original bridge.
1. A A Milne’s son was really called Christopher Robin, he and his favourite stuffed toys were the inspiration for the stories. With the exception of Owl and Rabbit, who appeared in later stories.
2. The original Winnie the Pooh was bought from Harrods for Christopher’s first birthday and was originally called Edward.
3. The real Christopher Robin named his bear after a real bear called Winnie that he saw at London Zoo and a swan named Pooh that he’d encountered on a family holiday.
4. Christopher Robin’s original stuffed toys are sometimes available to view at the New York Public Library, their home since 1987. If you are making a trip to see them you might want to check they are on view before you travel.
5. In 1998 British MP, Gwyneth Dunwoody, campaigned and failed to get Christopher Robin’s original toys returned to the UK.
6. Winnie the Pooh is one of only 16 fictional characters to be honoured in Hollywood with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
7. The Hundred Acre Wood is based on a real place, Ashdown Forest in East Sussex. The forest even has its own Poohsticks bridge in honour of the game played by Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh in the books.
8. In June of each year there is a real World Pooh Sticks Championships which takes place in Oxford and anyone can enter. Contestants drop a stick into a stream from a bridge and watch to see whose one crosses the finish line first.
9. Disney artists used over 1.2 million pencils, drawing nearly 100,000 pictures when making the Winnie the Pooh and The Blustery Day film in 1968.
9. The real life Christopher Robin suffered many taunts at school as a result of the success of his father’s books and he grew up to resent this. He felt that his father had exploited him and his childhood.
10. Pooh is said to be second only to Mickey Mouse in terms of a character generating income from merchandise.
