Winnie the Pooh

Name: __________________ Part One: http://www.poohcorner.com/A-Short-History-of-Pooh-and-Winnie.html Part Two: Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne always acknowledged that it was his wife, Daphne, and his young son, Christopher Robin, who inspired him to write the poems and stories – the literary journey began in 1924 when the Very Young Christopher Robin was introduced to an American black bear at the London Zoological Gardens. My searches for the origins of Pooh have led me along many paths for 'the truth,' as there are various versions of Pooh's beginnings. My very dear friend, the late Sir Basil Bartlett, Bart, formerly married to Mary Malcolm, the first BBC Television Announcer, was, among many other things, that rare breed, a diarist. His daily journals, recorded over a period of fifty years are fascinating reading. I have read only about twenty years' worth, but well recall an entry dated some time in the nineteen twenties recording a dinner he had attended at the London home of the late Laurence Irving, grandson of Henry Irving, the legendary Victorian actor and the first Knight of the English theatre. During the dinner, Irving related to his assembled guests the story of how his neighbour, Alan Milne, had asked him if he would include his son, Christopher, in their next family visit to the London Zoo. Irving agreed, as he felt sure Christopher would enjoy both a day with his children and what would be the young boy's first visit to the Zoo. The expotition took place a few days afterwards. All was fun and excitement for the children, until their arrival at the polar bears' 'house.' At his first sight of the huge white 'monster,' Christopher burst into tears and insisted on being taken home. The party, led by Irving and followed by one miserable crying child who wanted to leave and two very unhappy crying children who wanted to remain, hurriedly left Regent's Park. Christopher Robin Milne with Pooh, Cotchford Farm, Sussex, c. 1925 Some weeks later, Milne lunching at the Garrick Club with Irving, told him a story of Christopher's first triumphant visit to the Zoo, where he had met and fallen in love with a bear and that this had inspired him to write a poem or two to celebrate the occasion and perhaps even eventually a story honouring the visit! Basil read this extract from his diary to me on the day Irving had written a letter to the London Times, containing a brief description of the origins of Pooh, which totally conflicted with the story Irving had related to Basil fifty years before. The following day, I rang Laurence Irving and reminded him of Basil's written record of the event all those years before. He insisted that Basil had romanticised his recollection and he then wrote a letter to me confirming some of the 'facts' printed in the Times. Irving's version relates that he took Christopher on a family outing to the London Zoo with his daughter, Pamela, and the daughter of their mutual friend, John Hastings Turner, and that, after a little trepidation, the young boy decided he liked the huge and friendly bear. The writer, Enid Blyton, of The Famous Five fame, reported that Alan Milne had told her "the bear hugged Christopher Robin and they had a glorious time together, rolling about and pulling ears and all sorts of things." But, I feel it unlikely that a four-year-old boy could romp about with a ten-year-old American black bear as Milne described, but "You never can tell," says Pooh! Whatever the real story is, there is no doubt that the young Christopher Robin did befriend Winnie at the London Zoo as is evidenced in the picture of him feeding the bear with condensed milk on one of his visits. If you look closely, you will see Alan Milne behind the bars of the bear's enclosure – was he too frightened to go in? Irving also told me the story of how the determined Ernest Shepard finally convinced Alan Milne that he was the best illustrator for his forthcoming book of verses. Evidently the young artist had gone down to the Ashdown Forest and made a number of sketches and, afterwards, without making an appointment, called on Milne at his home at Cotchford Farm one Saturday morning with his portfolio of sketches. Milne, somewhat surprised to see an uninvited guest at his front door, reluctantly asked him in. Inside the entrance hall, Shepard opened his portfolio. Milne was immediately delighted with the drawings and agreed that Shepard should illustrate the poems. The young artist left Cotchford Farm clutching his portfolio a very happy young man. However, two weeks later, Milne began to regret his 'hasty' decision and changed his mind. Fortunately, his older and wiser friends, including F.H. Townsend and E.V. Lucas reassured him – and history was made. However, there is little doubt about the origins of the bear and I am very grateful to Gordon Crossley, the Regimental Historian of The Fort Garry Horse in Winnipeg, Canada, who generously gave me the background history of the original Winnie, the American black bear cub who was the inspiration for A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, the loveable Bear of Very Little Brain. In August, 1914, Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, a Veterinary Officer with the 34th Fort Garry Horse of Manitoba, was travelling by train from his home in Winnipeg to enroll in the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in Valcartier, Quebec. Travelling by Canadian Pacific Railway, his train made a stop at White River in Ontario, where he noticed a man further along the station platform with an American black bear cub tied to the arm of the bench on which he was seated. He struck up a conversation and, learning that the man was a trapper who had shot and killed the cub's mother, Colebourn offered him $20 for the young bear -- the trapper eagerly accepted the offer and the cub was taken to Quebec, where she became the mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, as Lieutenant Colebourn with Winnie on Salisbury Plain, ≈December, 1914 Harry had been assigned to the Headquarters of that formation. © Manitoba Archives, Winnipeg One of the units in the 2nd Brigade was the 6th (Fort Garry) Battalion, which had been formed from Harry’s old unit, the 34th Fort Garry Horse. Winnie with a soldier of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps. Salisbury plain, 1914 © Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg In December 1914, the 2nd Brigade was preparing to move to France in great secrecy. Colebourn decided it was unsafe to take her into battle; so, while passing through London on the way to France on December 9th, 1914, he visited London Zoo and asked them to care for the cub until his return, which he optimistically anticipated would be a short time. Of course, 'that war to end all wars' was not to end so quickly. It was not until 1918 that Colebourn returned safely to London. Seeing that the bear, now known affectionately by her keepers and visitors as Winnie, was happy and content in her new home, he decided to leave her there. Receipt from London Zoo, recording the arrival there of Winnie on December 9th, 1914 and her death on 12th May, 1934 He visited her a number of times during the following years to renew his friendship, and the cub grew up to be a big friendly bear who lived and played happily among many thousands of friends, both animal and human, until she died there peacefully on the of 12th May, 1934. In 1921, Harry Colebourn, now a Major, returned to his old unit, The Fort Garry Horse, and continued to serve the needs of animals in the military and as a civilian veterinarian until his death in 1947. In 1999 a party of officers and men from The Fort Garry Horse visited London Zoo and unveiled a plaque describing the connection between Harry Colebourn and Winnie. The plaque was mounted at Mappin Terrace, near the enclosure where Winnie lived for so many years. The London Zoo also has a statue of Harry and Winnie, by Manitoba sculptor Bill Epp. This statue, erected in 1993, is a copy of the original that stands in the Winnipeg Zoo There's always serendipity in life – if you allow it – during the late 1950s, I was employed as Personal Assistant to Harry Arkle, the European Managing Director of Canadian Pacific and was offered the job as Personal Assistant to Neville Crump, the Chairman of the Company in Montreal – I declined the offer because I was in love with a girl in London! – If only I'd known about Winnie-the-Pooh at the time, what other 'bear' adventures might I have experienced? Interestingly, Leslie G. Mainland, L.G.M. of "The Daily Mail" in his book Secrets Of The Zoo published in 1922, writes of the Zoo's young bear, Winifred. In Mainland's book, the photograph is captioned "Winifred being fed by her keeper with a spoonful of golden syrup." Milne described Winnie-the-Pooh's daily 'Little Something' as honey, a much more 'singy' food! However, the late Christopher Winnie in London Zoo February 16th, 1916 Robin Milne affectionately recalled that, as a five-year-old boy, © Manitoba Archives, Winnipeg he regularly fed Winnie condensed milk as she disliked honey! Fortunately for us all, his father immortalized Pooh's love for honey, rather than condensed milk. Imagine Pooh singing as he climbed the oak tree: Isn't it funny How a bear likes condensed milk Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! I wonder why he does? Could a Royal Swan swimming serenely on the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens have known it would be called Pooh? "Of course, when you say goodbye, Pooh is a very good name to take with you as, probably, the swan wouldn't want it anymore." And so, in 1926, with a lifetime of experiences, the five-year-old Christopher Robin went to live at Cotchford Farm in Sussex, England, with a friend named Edward Bear.

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