Happy Thought for 24 February 2023

Have a Happy Thought: 

Winnie the Pooh, the beloved children’s book character, was based on a real bear!

Here’s the story, as inscribed on a plaque in the city of Ontario:

“On August 24, 1914 Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, V.S., of the 34th Fort Garry Horse & Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, purchased a black bear cub at WHITE RIVER, Ontario, while enroute overseas. He named her WINNIE after his hometown, Winnipeg. WINNIE became the soldiers’ mascot, and was left in the care of the London Zoo on December 9th, 1914, while Lieutenant Colebourn served in France. In 1919, he gave her to the Zoo for permanent keeping where she was watched and loved by many, including author A.A. Milne and his son Christopher.”

Winnie accompanied Harry to England ,became the Brigade’s mascot and found a home in the London Zoo. Here, staff said that Winnie was the most popular animal at the zoo and she earned a reputation with her keepers as the most tame and gentle bear the zoo had ever had. (Photo: Archives of Manitoba, Colebourn, D. Harry 9 [N10467]).

Image and text from an information sign, photo taken by this author’s father, in Winnipeg, Ontario, Canada.

 

Here Winnie was loved by A.A. Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne who enjoyed feeding spoons of honey to the bear. This inspired one of the most-loved children's books, Winnie the Pooh

Image and text from an information sign, photo taken by this author’s father, in Winnipeg, Ontario, Canada.

 

The final thing to celebrate, other than the fact that we’ve in general gotten better about animal welfare and hopefully Winnies and her like are no longer being thrown into backpacks or otherwise carted around the world on a whim…

 

Anyway, the stories about Winne The Pooh as written by A.A. Milne… are in the public domain! No longer under copyright!

Which means that you can now write those spin-off stories you’ve always wanted to.

 

Or, if anyone’s interested… I’m considering doing an audio recording of at least the first book.

Let me know if you’d like a copy and I’ll get onto that 😊

 

 

Thanks Mom and Dad for sharing Winnie’s story with all of us!