REAL Winnie the Pooh Celebrates Centenary

[rusty_armour]

Today, I went to a wonderful free exhibit at the Ryerson Image Centre called Remembering The Real Winnie. For those of you who don't know, A.A. Milne based his famous creation on a Canadian black bear named Winnie (for Winnipeg) that he and his son, Christopher Robin, discovered at the London Zoo in the early twenties. Christopher Robin instantly fell in love with this black bear and re-named his teddy bear Winnie. The original Winnie came to Britain with Canadian veterinarian and WWI soldier Harry Colebourn. Colebourn bought Winnie off a trapper for $20 and brought her along when he shipped out. All of the soldiers in his regiment quickly fell in love with Winnie, who became the regiment's unofficial mascot. Not surprisingly, Colebourn wasn't able to bring Winnie to the Front, which is how she ended up in London Zoo. Colebourn had originally intended to bring Winnie back home to Canada after the war, but he decided to leave her in London Zoo because she seemed very happy and comfortable there. She was certainly extremely popular.

While the Remembering The Real Winnie exhibit is quite small, it's full of fascinating treasures, such as Colebourn's veterinary kit, photos of Colebourn with Winnie, and Colebourn's WWI diaries. There is also an excellent interactive website that tells the whole story of Winnie through photographs and other visual effects. It literally moved me to tears. There's also an online collection of photographs, diary entries and other gems. If you have any interest in Winnie the Pooh or the First World War, I highly recommend both of these sites.

Comments

[crimsoncorundum]

Oh, that's an adorable bear cub. :) I actually didn't know that there was a real bear that Winnie the Pooh was based on, though I've seen photos of the real Christopher Robin's real teddy bear. I hope that the real live Winnie really was happy and comfortable at the Zoo and I'm glad she never got to the front.

[rusty_armour]

Oh, that's an adorable bear cub. :) I actually didn't know that there was a real bear that Winnie the Pooh was based on, though I've seen photos of the real Christopher Robin's real teddy bear.

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge outside of Canada. I only knew because I saw a Canadian Heritage Moment about it when I was younger. There was also a TV movie on the subject about ten years ago. I believe that one or both websites have photos of Christopher Robin with his teddy bear and the real Winnie.

I hope that the real live Winnie really was happy and comfortable at the Zoo and I'm glad she never got to the front.

By all accounts, Winnie was happy and comfortable at the zoo. She was very friendly, gentle and docile (probably because she had been raised by humans since she was a cub) and seemed to enjoy seeing people. Of course, we can never know what went on inside Winnie's head, but I would hope that a vet and zookeepers would know if she'd been unhappy. Animals give definite signs.

[crimsoncorundum]

I'm glad Winnie seems to have had reasonably good life. If she hadn't been happy, she most likely would have showed it.

But I think the toy animals look rather sad sitting in that display case at the library. And how sad that Christopher Robin's life ended so tragically.