Pooh Birthday<br>Celebrating His 80th Birthday <br>(2006)

It all began in 1921 when young Christopher Robin Milne received a teddy bear named Edward as a gift for his first birthday.  Over the next few years, he added other stuffed toys to his collection, which grew to include a donkey, a kangaroo or two, a pig, and a sriped tiger.  Owl and Rabbit were based on animals that lived near the author’s Cotchford Farm in East Sussex (England).  When Christopher was four, he went to the London Zoo and struck up a friendship with a Canadian black bear named Winnie (short for the bear’s hometown of Winnipeg).  This fascination let the boy’s famous father, noted playwright/journalist A.A. Milne, to invent a wonderful series of stories and books.

The books were written at the suggestion of the author’s wife, Daphne.  On Dcember 24, 1925, the first Pooh story was published in the “London Evening News..”  It had the descriptive title “In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories Begin.”  The story proved to be so popular that it was broadcast by BBC radio the following day (Christmas Day).

Milne, who ived from 1882 to 1956, was one of England’s most successful playwrights.  He also spent many years writing humorous essays for “Punch Magazine,” where he served as an assistant editor for eight years.  Milne wrote the original Pooh stories primarily to amuse himself.  In the great tradition of J.M. Barrie and Lewis Carroll, he used a child as the catalyst to pen his stories.  In face, he was truly writing of world affairs, politics, puzzles, and the beauty of childhood.

Milne went n to write two Pooh books ‘ “Winnie-the-Pooh” (1926) and “The House at Pooh Corner” (1928.)  Boh boks were beautifully illustrated with line drawings by noted artist E.H. Shepard.  The same team collaborated on two other acclaimed books of children’s verse tht featured the beloved character – “When We Were Very Young” (1924) and “Now We Are Six’ (1927)

Many of the locales used in Pooh stories are based on real areas near the author’s home in East Sussex, Englad.  The Forest and the ndred Acrew Wood were inspired by Ashdown Forest and the Five Hundred Acre Wood.

Several years before the real Christopher Robin passed away (April 20, 1996), he became involved in efforts to preserve and protect the wooded area near his childhood home that had inspired his father’s masterworks.

100 Acre Woods Map 

POOH's Movie Debut
The first Disney Pooh featurette, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Treet,” was released in 1966.  Through the years, Pooh, Tigger, and the Hundred Acre Wood gang have appeared in many videos, educational films, holiday secials, and a TV series culminating in the first Pooh full-length original feature film, “The Tigger Movie,” which opened in theatres nationwide February 11, 2000.