Winnie-the-Pooh

This article is about the original character. For other uses, see Winnie-the-Pooh (disambiguation).
"Pooh Bear" and "Pooh" redirect here. For the musician, see Poo Bear. For other uses, see Pooh (disambiguation).
"Winnie the Pooh (character)" redirects here. For the Disney franchise character, see Winnie the Pooh (Disney character).

Winnie-the-Pooh
Pooh in an illustration by E. H. Shepard
First appearance
Created by
Based onWinnie the bear (name)
In-universe information
Nickname
  • Pooh Bear
  • Pooh
SpeciesTeddy Bear
GenderMale
HomeHundred Acre Wood

Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London's Evening News for Christmas Eve 1925. The character is inspired by a stuffed toy that Milne had bought for his son Christopher Robin in Harrods department store, and a bear they had viewed at London Zoo.

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. The stories are set in Hundred Acre Wood, which was inspired by Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex—situated 30 miles (48 km) south of London—where the Londoner Milne's country home was located.

The Pooh stories have been translated into many languages, including Alexander Lenard's Latin translation, Winnie ille Pu, which was first published in 1958, and, in 1960, became the only Latin book ever to have been featured on The New York Times Best Seller list.[1] The original English manuscripts are held at Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, Milne's alma mater to whom he had bequeathed the works.[2] The first Pooh story was ranked number 7 on the BBC's The Big Read poll.[3]

In 1961, The Walt Disney Company licensed certain film and other rights of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories from the estate of A. A. Milne and the licensing agent Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and adapted the Pooh stories, using the unhyphenated name "Winnie the Pooh", into a series of features that would eventually become one of its most successful franchises. In popular film adaptations, Pooh has been voiced by actors Sterling Holloway, Hal Smith, and Jim Cummings in English, and Yevgeny Leonov in Russian.

  1. ^ McDowell, Edwin. "Winnie ille Pu Nearly XXV Years Later", The New York Times (18 November 1984). Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  2. ^ "A A Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh goes to London". Trinity College Cambridge. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC poll was invoked but never defined (see the help page).