Winnie the pooh
During the First World War troops from Winnipeg, Canada were being transported so they could join the 2nd Canadian infantry Brigade to go to Europe. When the train stopped at White River, Ontario, a lieutenant called Harry Colebourn bought a small female black bear cub for $20 from a hunter who had killed its mother. He named him ‘Winnipeg’, after his hometown of Winnipeg, or ‘Winnie’ for short. Winnie became the mascot of the Brigade and went to Britain with the unit. When the Brigade was posted to the battlefields of France, Lt. Colebourn took Winnie to London Zoo to live. Where he became famous and lived until 1934. One of his regular visitors was Christopher Robin, son of author A.A. Milne. The bear was his favorite at the zoo, and he often spent time inside the cage with him. The bear was Christopher Robin’s inspiration for calling his own teddy bear Winnie….”Winnie the Pooh” .A.A. Milne started to write many books about Winnie the Pooh, his son Christopher Robin, and their friends at 100-Aker-Wood. The other characters, such as Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga and Roo were also based on stuffed animals belonging to Christopher Robin. Other characters such as Rabbit and Owl were based on animals that lived, in the surrounding area of Milne’s home on which 100-Aker-wood was based. The Pooh-books became firm favorites with old and young alike and have been translated into almost every known language. The Pooh-books had also been favorites of Walt Disney’s daughters and it inspired Disney to bring Pooh to film in 1966. In 1967 ‘the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’, the first feature-length animated film of Pooh was released. In 1993, the Walt Disney Company acknowledged that Pooh Bear is second only to Mickey Mouse in their portfolio of the most-loved and trusted characters known to millions of people all the world over. By 1996, after the second release of ‘the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’, the Bear of Very Little Brain had proved to be more popular than any other Disney character.