Как пишется имя винни пух

Перейти к содержанию

Ви́нни-Пу́х (англ. Winnie-the-Pooh) — плюшевый мишка, персонаж повестей и стихов Алана Александра Милна (цикл не имеет общего названия и обычно тоже называется «Винни-Пух», по первой книге). Один из самых известных героев детской литературы XX века. В 1960-е—1970-е годы, благодаря пересказу Бориса Заходера «Винни-Пух и Все-все-все», а затем и фильмам студии «Союзмультфильм», где мишку озвучивал Евгений Леонов, Винни-Пух стал очень популярен и в Советском Союзе.

Происхождение имени

Как и многие другие персонажи книги Милна, медвежонок Винни получил имя от одной из реальных игрушек Кристофера Робина (1920—1996), сына писателя. В свою очередь, плюшевый мишка Винни-Пух был назван по имени медведицы по кличке Виннипег (Винни), содержавшейся в 1920-х в Лондонском зоопарке.

Медведица Виннипег (американский чёрный медведь) попала в Великобританию как живой талисман (маскот) Канадского армейского ветеринарного корпуса из Канады, а именно из окрестностей города Виннипега. Она оказалась в кавалерийском полку «Форт Гарри Хорс» 24 августа 1914 года ещё будучи медвежонком (её купил у канадского охотника-траппера за двадцать долларов 27-летний полковой ветеринар лейтенант Гарри Колборн, заботившийся о ней и в дальнейшем). Уже в октябре того же года медвежонок был привезён вместе с войсками в Британию, а так как полк должен был быть в ходе Первой мировой войны переправлен во Францию, то в декабре было принято решение оставить зверя до конца войны в Лондонском зоопарке. Медведица полюбилась лондонцам, и военные не стали возражать против того, чтобы не забирать её из зоопарка и после войны. До конца дней (она умерла 12 мая 1934 года) медведица находилась на довольствии ветеринарного корпуса, о чём в 1919 году на её клетке сделали соответствующую надпись.

В 1924 году Алан Милн впервые пришёл в зоопарк с четырёхлетним сыном Кристофером Робином, который по-настоящему сдружился с Винни. За три года до этого Милн купил в универмаге Harrods и подарил сыну на его первый день рождения плюшевого медведя фирмы «Альфа Фарнелл». После знакомства хозяина с Винни этот медведь получил имя в её честь. Реальными игрушками Кристофера Робина были также Пятачок, Иа-Иа без хвоста, Кенга, Ру и Тигра. Сову и Кролика Милн придумал сам (на иллюстрациях Шепарда они выглядят не как игрушки, а как настоящие животные).

Именем Пух (Pooh) звали лебедя, который жил у знакомых Милнов (он фигурирует в сборнике «Когда мы были совсем маленькими»).

В сентябре 1981 года 61-летний Кристофер Робин Милн открыл памятник медведице Винни (в натуральную величину) в Лондонском зоопарке (скульптор Лорн Маккин). В 1999 году канадские кавалеристы из «Форт Гарри Хорс» открыли там же второй памятник (скульптор Билли Эпп), изображающий лейтенанта Гарри Колборна с медвежонком. Копия последнего памятника воздвигнута также в зоопарке канадского города Виннипег.

Книги Милна

Винни-Пух — главный персонаж двух книг Милна: Winnie-the-Pooh (первая глава опубликована в газете перед Рождеством, 24 декабря 1925 года, первое отдельное издание вышло 14 октября 1926 года в лондонском издательстве Methuen & Co) и The House at Pooh Corner (Дом на Пуховой опушке, 1928). Кроме того, в двух сборниках детских стихов Милна, When We Were Very Young (Когда мы были совсем маленькими) и Now We Are Six (Теперь нам шесть лет) есть несколько стихотворений о Винни-Пухе. Все эти четыре книги иллюстрированы Э. Х. Шепардом, карикатуристом журнала «Панч». Шепард известен также иллюстрациями к «Ветру в ивах» Кеннета Грэма.

Действие книг о Пухе происходит в лесу Эшдаун в графстве Восточный Сассекс, Англия, представленном в книге как Стоакровый лес (англ. The Hundred Acre Wood, в переводе Заходера — Чудесный лес).

Список рассказов/глав

«Винни-Пух» представляет собой дилогию, но каждая из двух книг Милна распадается на 10 рассказов (stories) с собственным сюжетом, которые могут читаться, экранизироваться и т. д. независимо друг от друга. Во многих переводах деление на две части не сохранено, рассказы могут быть пронумерованы подряд как главы, а некоторые из них пропускаться. Но всё же обе книги обычно переводятся и издаются вместе. (Исключением послужила необычная судьба немецкого Винни-Пуха: первая книга вышла в немецком переводе в 1928 году, а вторая лишь в 1954; между этими датами — ряд трагических событий германской истории.) Далее в скобках даётся название соответствующей главы в пересказе Бориса Заходера.

• Первая книга — Winnie-the-Pooh:
  1. We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees and the Stories Begin (…в которой мы знакомимся с Винни-Пухом и несколькими пчёлами).
  2. Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place (…в которой Винни-Пух пошёл в гости, а попал в безвыходное положение).
  3. Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle (…в которой Пух и Пятачок отправились на охоту и чуть-чуть не поймали Буку).
  4. Eeyore Loses A Tail and Pooh Finds One (…в которой Иа-Иа теряет хвост, а Пух находит).
  5. Piglet Meets a Heffalump (…в которой Пятачок встречает Слонопотама).
  6. Eeyore Has A Birthday And Gets Two Presents (…в которой у Иа-Иа был день рождения, а Пятачок чуть-чуть не улетел на Луну).
  7. Kanga And Baby Roo Come To The Forest And Piglet Has A Bath (…в которой Кенга и Крошка Ру появляются в лесу, а Пятачок принимает ванну).
  8. Christopher Robin Leads An Expotition To The North Pole (…в которой Кристофер Робин организует «искпедицию» к Северному Полюсу).
  9. Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded By Water (…в которой Пятачок совершенно окружён водой).
  10. Christopher Robin Gives Pooh A Party and We Say Goodbye (…в которой Кристофер Робин устраивает торжественный Пиргорой и мы говорим Всем-Всем-Всем До Свиданья).
• Вторая книга — The House at Pooh Corner:
  1. A House Is Built At Pooh Corner For Eeyore (…в которой для Иа-Иа строят дом на Пуховой опушке).
  2. Tigger Comes to the Forest and Has Breakfast (…в которой в лес приходит Тигра и завтракает).
  3. A Search is Organdized, and Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump Again (…в которой организуются поиски, а Пятачок опять чуть-чуть не попался Слонопотаму).
  4. It Is Shown That Tiggers Don’t Climb Trees (…в которой выясняется, что Тигры не лазят по деревьям).
  5. Rabbit Has a Busy Day, and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings (…в которой Кролик очень занят и мы впервые встречаемся с Пятнистым Щасвирнусом).
  6. Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In (…в которой Пух изобретает новую игру и в неё включается Иа-Иа).
  7. Tigger Is Unbounced (…в которой Тигру укрощают).
  8. Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing (…в которой Пятачок совершает великий подвиг).
  9. Eeyore Finds the Wolery and Owl Moves Into It (…в которой Иа находит совешник и Сова переезжает).
  10. Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There (…в которой мы оставляем Кристофера Робина и Винни-Пуха в зачарованном месте).

В наиболее распространённой версии пересказа Заходера имеется только 18 глав; две из оригинальных глав Милна — десятая из первой книги и третья из второй — пропущены (точнее, десятая глава сокращена до одного абзаца, «пристёгнутого» в конце девятой). В 1990 году, к 30-летию русского Винни-Пуха, Заходер перевёл эти две главы и выпустил полное издание, однако этот текст оказался сравнительно малоизвестным; по-прежнему переиздаётся и сокращённая версия, и в Интернете представлена пока только она.

Персонаж

Винни-Пух, он же Д. П. (Друг Пятачка), П. К. (Приятель Кролика), О. П. (Открыватель Полюса), У. И.-И. (Утешитель Иа-Иа) и Н. Х. (Находитель Хвоста) — это наивный, добродушный и скромный «Медведь с Маленькими Мозгами» (англ. Bear of Very Little Brain); в переводе Заходера Винни неоднократно говорит о том, что в его голове опилки, хотя в оригинале лишь один раз говорится о мякине (pulp). Пуха «пугают длинные слова», он забывчив, но нередко в его голову приходят блестящие идеи. Любимые занятия Пуха — сочинять стихи и есть мёд.

Образ Пуха находится в центре всех 20-ти рассказов. В ряде начальных историй, таких, как история с норой, поиски Буки, поимка Слонопотама, Пух попадает в то или иное «Безвыходное положение» и часто выходит из него лишь с помощью Кристофера Робина. В дальнейшем комические черты в образе Пуха отступают на второй план перед «героическими». Очень часто сюжетный поворот в рассказе — это то или иное неожиданное решение Пуха. Кульминация образа Пуха-героя приходится на 9 главу первой книги, когда Пух, предложив использовать зонтик Кристофера Робина как транспортное средство («Мы поплывём на твоём зонтике»), спасает от неминуемой гибели Пятачка; великому пиру в честь Пуха посвящена вся десятая глава. Во второй книге подвигу Пуха композиционно соответствует Великий Подвиг Пятачка, который спасает героев, запертых в обвалившемся дереве, где жила Сова.

Кроме того, Пух — творец, главный поэт Стоакрового (Чудесного) леса, он постоянно слагает стихи из шума, звучащего у него в голове.

Имя Winnie (его носила медведица, в честь которой был назван Пух) на английский слух воспринимается как характерно женское («А я-то думал, что это девочка», — говорит в прологе отец Кристоферу Робину). В английской традиции плюшевые мишки могут восприниматься и как «мальчики» и как «девочки», в зависимости от выбора хозяина. Милн чаще называет Пуха местоимением мужского рода (he), но нередко и оставляет его пол неопределённым (it). В подавляющем большинстве переводов Пух мужского рода. Исключение составил перевод Моники Адамчик на польский язык (1986), где главный персонаж — медведица по имени Fredzia Phi-Phi. Но этот перевод не завоевал признания; в Польше считается классическим довоенный перевод Ирены Тувим (сестры поэта Юлиана Тувима), где Kubuś Puchatek мужского рода (более того, даже имя его заменено на однозначно мужское — Kubuś является уменьшительным от Jakub). У Винни-Пуха есть и другое имя — Edward (Эдуард), уменьшительным от которого является традиционное английское название плюшевых мишек — Тедди. В качестве «фамилии» Пуха всегда используется Bear (Медведь), после посвящения его Кристофером Робином в рыцари Пух получает титул Sir Pooh de Bear (сэр Пух де Медведь).

Плюшевый медведь Винни-Пух, принадлежавший Кристоферу Робину, сейчас находится в детской комнате Нью-Йоркской библиотеки. Он не очень похож на медведя, которого мы видим на иллюстрациях Шепарда. Моделью иллюстратору послужил «Growler» (Ворчун), плюшевый мишка его собственного сына. К сожалению, он не сохранился, став жертвой собаки, жившей в семье художника.

Лучший друг Пуха — поросёнок Пятачок. Другие персонажи:

• Кристофер Робин (Christopher Robin)
• Иа-Иа (Eeyore)
• Слонопотам (Heffalump)
• Бука (Woozle)
• Кенга (Kanga)
• Крошка Ру (Little Roo)
• Сова (Owl)
• Кролик (Rabbit)
• Тигра (Tigger)

Диснеевские экранизации и фильмы-продолжения

В 1929 году Милн продал права на коммерческую эксплуатацию образа Винни-Пуха (англ. merchandising right) американскому продюсеру Стивену Слезингеру (умер в 1953). В этот период были выпущены, в частности, несколько пластинок-спектаклей по книгам Милна, очень популярные в США.

В 1961 году права на персонаж были куплены у вдовы Слезингера студией Диснея. По сюжету некоторых глав первой книги студия выпустила короткометражные мультфильмы. Заметим, что в диснеевских фильмах и изданиях имя персонажа, в отличие от книг Милна, пишется без дефисов (Winnie the Pooh), что может отражать американскую пунктуацию в отличие от британской. Начиная с 1970-х годов студия Диснея выпускает мультфильмы на вновь придуманные сюжеты, уже не связанные с книгами Милна.

Многие любители произведений Милна считают, что сюжеты и стиль диснеевских фильмов имеют мало общего с духом книг о Винни. Резко отрицательно о продукции Диснея отзывалась семья Милна (в частности, Кристофер Робин Милн, умерший в 1996). Внешность персонажей мультфильмов, в общем, восходит к иллюстрациям Шепарда, но рисунок упрощён, а некоторые запоминающиеся черты преувеличены. Винни-Пух Шепарда носит короткую красную кофточку только зимой (поиски Буки), в то время как диснеевский ходит в ней круглый год.

Компания Диснея приобрела авторские права и на рисунки Шепарда: соответствующий образ именуется «классический Пух».

Самой яркой чертой американизации сюжета стало появление в полнометражном фильме «Множество приключений Винни-Пуха» (1977; включает наряду с новыми сценами три ранее вышедших коротких мультфильма) нового персонажа по имени Gopher (в русских переводах мультфильмов Диснея он называется Суслик). Дело в том, что зверёк гофер водится только в Северной Америке. Появление Суслика стало программным — он восклицает: «Конечно, меня нет в книге!»

Авторские права на образ Винни-Пуха и его друзей — одни из самых доходных в мире, во всяком случае что касается именно литературных персонажей. Сейчас компания Диснея зарабатывает на продаже видео- и прочей продукции, связанной с Пухом, 1 миллиард долларов в год — столько же, сколько на созданных собственно Диснеем знаменитых образах Микки Мауса, Минни Маус, Дональда Дака, Гуфи и Плуто вместе взятых. По итогам опроса населения Гонконга в 2004 году Винни оказался любимым персонажем диснеевских мультфильмов всех времён. В 2005 году аналогичные социологические результаты были получены и на Филиппинах.

11 апреля 2006 года на Аллее славы в Голливуде была открыта звезда Винни-Пуха^[1].

В 2007 году должен выйти новый диснеевский мультсериал о Пухе «Мои друзья Тигра и Пух». В нём основную сюжетную роль будет играть новый придуманный персонаж — 6-летняя рыжая девочка Дарби^[2], однако, вопреки первоначальным сообщениям, она не заменит Кристофера Робина, который также будет фигурировать в сериале.

Борьба за авторские права

В 1991 году вдова Слезингера, Ширли Слезингер Ласуэлл, подала иск против Диснея, утверждая, что за тридцать лет до того при продаже Диснею авторских прав она была обманута. Хотя г-жа Слезингер к тому времени уже заработала на Пухе 66 миллионов долларов, она требовала сверх того 200 миллионов. Дело закончилось только через 13 лет, в марте 2004 года, победой Диснея.

В ходе этой борьбы Дисней предпринял ответный шаг, объединившись (на финансовой почве) с наследниками Милна, несмотря на их неприятие диснеевских мультфильмов. В 1998 году, после принятия американского закона об истечении авторских прав, Клара Милн, дочь Кристофера Робина, предприняла попытку вообще прекратить авторские права компании Слезингера на создания своего деда, подав об этом совместный иск с компанией Диснея. Но на сей раз суд поддержал Слезингера.

В странах, где сроки авторского права не превосходят требуемые Бернской конвенцией, всякое авторское право на тексты Милна прекратилось в конце 2006 года, то есть по прошествии полувекового срока (50-летие смерти Милна — 31 января 2006) плюс время до окончания календарного года. (Авторские права на иллюстрации Шепарда сохранятся дольше на двадцать лет, так как он умер в 1976 году).

Винни-Пух в СССР и России

Пересказ Бориса Заходера

История Винни-Пуха в России начинается с 1958 года, когда с книгой познакомился Борис Владимирович Заходер. Знакомство началось с энциклопедической статьи. Вот как рассказывал он сам об этом^[3]:

Наша встреча произошла в библиотеке, где я просматривал английскую детскую энциклопедию. Это была любовь с первого взгляда: я увидел изображение симпатичного медвежонка, прочитал несколько стихотворных цитат — и бросился искать книжку. Так наступил один из счастливейших моментов моей жизни: дни работы над «Пухом».

«Детгиз» отверг рукопись книги (курьёзным образом её сочли «американской»). В 1960 году её удалось издать в только что учреждённом издательстве «Детский мир» с иллюстрациями Алисы Ивановны Порет. Первоначальное название книги (под которым вышло первое издание) было «Винни-Пух и все остальные», впоследствии утвердилось название «Винни-Пух и Все-все-все». В 1965 году уже ставшая очень популярной книга вышла и в Детгизе. В выходных данных первых нескольких изданий автором книги был ошибочно указан «Артур Милн». Уже в 1967 году русский Винни-Пух был издан в американском издательстве «Даттон», где выпускалось большинство книг о Пухе и в здании которого в то время хранились игрушки Кристофера Робина.

Заходер всегда подчёркивал, что его книга — не перевод, а пересказ, плод сотворчества и «пересоздания» Милна по-русски. Действительно, его текст не всегда буквально следует за оригиналом. Ряд находок, отсутствующих у Милна (например, разнообразные названия песен Пуха — Шумелки, Кричалки, Вопилки, Сопелки, Пыхтелки, — или знаменитый вопрос Пятачка: «Любит ли Слонопотам поросят? И как он их любит?»), удачно вписывается в контекст произведения.

Как уже говорилось, долгое время пересказ Заходера издавался без двух рассказов — «глав» из оригинала Милна; они впервые были переведены им и включены в сборник «Винни-Пух и многое другое», вышедший в 1990 году. «Полная» версия перевода Заходера, однако, до сих пор малоизвестна по сравнению с более ранней.

Иллюстрации

В советское время получили известность несколько серий иллюстраций к «Винни-Пуху».

Алиса Ивановна Порет, известная ленинградская художница, ученица Петрова-Водкина и Филонова, иллюстрировала самое первое издание пересказа Заходера (1960). Наряду с небольшими чёрно-белыми картинками, Порет создала и цветные многофигурные композиции («Спасение Крошки Ру», «Савешник»), а также первую карту Стоакрового леса на русском языке.

Эдуард Васильевич Назаров — один из художников-аниматоров, участвовавших в создании мультфильмов Хитрука. Ему принадлежат графические черно-белые иллюстрации, очень близкие к образам мультфильма и также получившие большую популярность (1985). На некоторых из них фигурируют Тигра, Крошка Ру, родственники и знакомые Кролика, которых нет в мультфильмах.

Другое издание книги о Винни-Пухе иллюстрировал в цвете Виктор Чижиков.

Более 200 цветных иллюстраций, заставок и рисованных заголовков к «Винни-Пуху» принадлежит Борису Диодорову.

В 1990-е—2000-е годы в России продолжают появляться новые иллюстрации к Винни-Пуху. Некоторые издания нового перевода Виктора Вебера содержат многочисленные цветные иллюстрации Игоря Егунова.

Мультфильмы

В студии «Союзмультфильм» под руководством Фёдора Хитрука было создано три мультфильма:

• Винни-Пух (1969) — основан на первой главе книги
• Винни-Пух идёт в гости (1971) — основан на второй главе книги
• Винни-Пух и день забот (1972) — основан на четвёртой (о потерянном хвосте) и шестой (о дне рождения) главах книги.

Посмотреть и скачать все мультфильмы можно на — http://www.vinnipuh.com/video.html

Сценарий написал Хитрук в соавторстве с Заходером; работа соавторов не всегда шла гладко, что стало в конечном счёте причиной прекращения выпуска мультфильмов (первоначально планировалось выпустить сериал по всей книге, см. воспоминания Заходера). Некоторые эпизоды, фразы и песни (прежде всего знаменитая «Куда идём мы с Пятачком…») отсутствуют в книге и сочинены специально для мультфильмов. С другой стороны, из сюжета мультфильма исключён (вопреки воле Заходера) Кристофер Робин; в первом мультфильме его сюжетная роль передана Пятачку, во втором — Кролику.

Во время работы над фильмом Хитрук так писал Заходеру о своей концепции главного персонажа:

Я понимаю его так: он постоянно наполнен какими-то грандиозными планами, слишком сложными и громоздкими для тех пустяковых дел, которые он собирается предпринимать, поэтому планы рушатся при соприкосновении с действительностью. Он постоянно попадает впросак, но не по глупости, а потому, что его мир не совпадает с реальностью. В этом я вижу комизм его характера и действия. Конечно, он любит пожрать, но не это главное.

Для озвучивания сериала были привлечены актёры первой величины. Винни-Пуха озвучивал Евгений Леонов, Пятачка — Ия Саввина, Иа-Иа — Эраст Гарин.

Цикл мультфильмов получил огромную популярность. Цитаты из него стали общим достоянием советских детей и взрослых и послужили основой для создания образа Винни-Пуха в советском юмористическом фольклоре (см. ниже).

За этот цикл в числе прочих работ Хитрук получил в 1976 году Государственную премию СССР.

Анекдоты

Винни-Пух и Пятачок стали персонажами цикла советских анекдотов. Этот цикл — свидетельство популярности мультфильмов среди взрослых, так как анекдоты выходят далеко за пределы «детского юмора», а многие и подчёркнуто «недетские». В них на первый план выходит очевидная уже в фильме Хитрука некоторая брутальность и прямолинейность образа Пуха; медведю приписываются «взрослые» черты — помимо «любителя пожрать» Пух становится любителем выпить и отпустить остроту с сексуальным подтекстом. Нередко в анекдотах в духе чёрного юмора обыгрываются «гастрономические» качества Пятачка. Наконец, анекдоты о Пухе и Пятачке, как и цикл о Штирлице, содержат элементы языковой игры (в частности, каламбура), например:

Заходит как-то Пятачок к Винни-Пуху, а дверь открывает какая-то медведица.
— Здрасьте, а Винни-Пух дома?
— Во-первых, не Винни-Пух, а медведь Вениамин, а во-вторых, его нету дома!
Пятачок, обидевшись:
— Ага, тогда передайте, что заходил кабан Полтинник!

Анекдоты продолжают создаваться и в постсоветское время: так, в одном из вариантов только что приведённого текста с Пятачком разговаривает секретарь Пуха — «нового русского», а в другом анекдоте Пятачок подаёт донос «Хорошо живёт на свете Винни-Пух» в налоговую инспекцию.

Сетевой юмор

Винни-Пух вызвал к жизни большой пласт сетевого юмора. Это не только анекдоты, но и повести разных авторов. Наиболее популярная тема — Винни-Пух как хакер и сисоп.^[4]

Публикация оригинала

В 1983 году под редакцией и с примечаниями филолога-англиста А. И. Полторацкого в Москве в издательстве «Радуга» были изданы в одном томе все четыре прозаические и стихотворные книги о Пухе (Milne A. Winnie-the-Pooh; The House at Pooh Comer; When we were very young; Now we are six. M., 1983); так советский читатель, владеющий английским языком, смог познакомиться и с оригинальным текстом. Предисловие к книге написал советский литературовед Д. М. Урнов: эта работа содержала один из первых «взрослых» разборов текста милновского цикла в России, к сожалению, не без следов вульгарной социологии (так, Милн, по Урнову, пытался укрыться от социальных бурь «в лапах плюшевого медведя»). Интерес Полторацкого (инициатора издания) к Винни-Пуху пробудили студенты Отделения структурной и прикладной лингвистики (ОСиПЛ) филологического факультета МГУ, предложившие разбирать английский текст «Винни-Пуха» во время занятий на спецкурсе.

Новые переводы

1990-е годы стали временем создания новых русских переводов «Винни-Пуха». Пересказ Заходера перестал быть единственным.

Перевод Виктора Вебера стал наиболее известным из альтернативных заходеровскому и несколько раз выходил в издательстве «ЭКСМО»; кроме того, он был напечатан параллельно оригиналу в двуязычном комментированном издании, вышедшем в 2001 году в издательстве «Радуга». В версии Вебера сохранено посвящение и разделение на две части (часть 1, часть 2), полностью переведены все 20 глав. Тем не менее, по мнению ряда критиков (А. Борисенко, Л. Бруни), этот перевод не столь ценен с художественной точки зрения, как заходеровский, а также в ряде мест неточно передаёт оригинал; критиковались также переводы стихов (выполненные не Вебером, а Натальей Рейн). У Вебера Пятачок — Хрюка, Слонопотам — Хоботун, а Тигра — Тигер.

Перевод Вадима Руднева и Татьяны Михайловой («Winnie Пух. Дом в Медвежьем Углу») издавался сначала в составе работы Руднева «Винни Пух и философия обыденного языка», а затем выдержал несколько отдельных изданий. Хронологически это второй перевод после заходеровского^[5]. Переводчики ставили целью создать «взрослого», «интеллектуального» Пуха, ассоциирующегося прежде всего с литературой и философией 1920-х годов. К этой цели они шли через сознательную эклектику, во многом отдаляясь от оригинала. Названия глав и отчасти текст, по установке Руднева и Михайловой, стилизованы под Фолкнера (что мотивируется сходством художественного пространства «Пуха» и йокнапатофской саги Фолкнера)^[6], стилистика стихотворений и отчасти диалогов — под русскую и советскую массовую поэзию, ряд имён собственных (например, Heffalump — о своеобразной трактовке этого образа см. Слонопотам) и нарицательных оставлен без перевода для соответствующего восприятия и проч.^[7] С точки зрения А. Борисенко, «перевод оставляет впечатление некой литературной мистификации, где один текст выдаётся за другой… не является ни точным, ни научным, ни просветительским. Строго говоря, он вообще не является переводом. Это своеобразная игра с господствующей традицией, деконструкция, произвольное выделение одной (воображаемой!) части целого с нарушением всех пропорций».

Наконец, нужно упомянуть о трансформации имён героев в переводах диснеевских мультфильмов, хотя к переводу текста Милна это и не имеет отношения. Так как имена Пятачок, Тигра, Иа-Иа придуманы Заходером, то в последнее время эти имена в диснеевской продукции были изменены на другие (Хрюня, Тигруля, Ушастик — не путать с Кроликом! — и др.)

Винни-Пух в литературе и философии

Подобно «Алисе в стране чудес» Льюиса Кэрролла, «Винни-Пух» на протяжении XX века стал предметом для различных философских, психоаналитических и сатирических вариаций.

Бенджамин Хофф в своих книгах (ныне изданных и по-русски) The Tao of Pooh («Дао Пуха») и The Te of Piglet («Дэ Пятачка») при помощи героев Милна популярно объясняет философию даосизма. Текст Милна при этом видоизменён^[8].

Дж. Т. Уильямс использовал образ медведя для сатиры на философию (Pooh and the Philosophers, «Пух и философы»), а Фредерик Крюс — на литературоведение (The Pooh Perplex, «Пухова путаница» и Postmodern Pooh, «Постмодернистский Пух»). В «Пуховой путанице» произведён шуточный анализ «Винни-Пуха» с точки зрения фрейдизма, формализма и т. п.

Все эти англоязычные работы повлияли на книгу семиотика и философа В. П. Руднева «Винни Пух и философия обыденного языка» (имя героя — без дефиса, 1996). Текст Милна препарирован в этой книге при помощи структурализма, идей Бахтина, философии Людвига Витгенштейна и ряда других идей 1920-х, в том числе психоанализа. По мысли Руднева, «эстетические и философские идеи всегда носятся в воздухе… ВП появился в период самого мощного расцвета прозы XX века, что не могло не повлиять на структуру этого произведения, не могло, так сказать, не отбросить на него своих лучей»^[9]. Эта книга содержит также полный перевод обеих книг Милна о Пухе (см. выше, в разделе «Новые переводы»).

Имя на разных языках

По-английски между именем Винни и прозвищем Пух идёт артикль the, как это обычно в прозвищах (ср. имена монархов Alfred the Great — Альфред Великий, Charles the Bald — Карл Лысый, или литературно-исторических персонажей John the Baptist — Иоанн Креститель, Tevye the Milkman — Тевье-молочник); так же, например, нидерл. Winnie de Poeh и идиш װיני-דער-פּו (Вини-дэр-Пу). На многих европейских языках его зовут каким-то одним из этих двух имён: «Медведем Пухом» (нем. Pu der Bär, чешск. Medvídek Pú, болг. Мечо Пух) или «Медвежонком Винни» (фр. Winnie l’ourson). Поляки, как уже сказано, называют его Кубусем (Яшей — уменьшительное от Jakub) Пухатком (польск. Kubuś Puchatek). Встречаются также имена, где нет ни Винни, ни Пуха, например, венг. Micimackó, датск. Peter Plys или норв. Ole Brumm.

В английском языке «h» в имени Pooh не произносится, это имя рифмуется постоянно с who или do, на немецком, чешском, латыни и эсперанто оно передаётся как Pu. Тем не менее в русскую традицию благодаря Заходеру весьма удачно вошло естественно звучащее имя Пух (обыгрывание славянских слов пух, пухлый очевидно и в польском названии). В белорусском переводе Виталя Воронова — белор. Віня-Пых, вторая часть имени переведена как «Пых», что созвучно с белорусскими словами пыха (высокомерие и гордость) и запыхацца.

В пересказе Заходера и в титрах советских мультфильмов имя Пуха пишется, как и в оригинале Милна, через дефис: Винни-Пух. В 1990-е годы, возможно, под влиянием диснеевских мультфильмов, где Winnie the Pooh без дефиса, распространение получил орфографический вариант Винни Пух (так, например, в работах Руднева и Михайловой; в одних изданиях перевода Вебера дефис есть, в других — нет). В Русском орфографическом словаре РАН под редакцией В. В. Лопатина имя пишется через дефис. В не являющемся нормативным Грамматическом словаре русского языка А. А. Зализняка, издание 2003 г., также дано Ви́нни-Пу́х. В соответствии с текстами, через которые это имя вошло в русскую культуру, в настоящей статье принято традиционное написание — через дефис.

Прочие интересные факты

Винни-Пух настолько популярен в Польше, что в Варшаве и Познани его имя носят улицы (польск. Ulica Kubusia Puchatka).

Надпись на доме Пуха гласит «Сандерс». Это использовано в повести как каламбур: Пух «живёт под именем» Сандерс.

В современном английском языке существует вполне благопристойное слово Пу (англ. Poo), означающее какашку. Слово звучит точно так же, как имя медведя.

Официальная дата рождения Винни-Пуха — 21 августа 1921, то есть день, когда Кристоферу Робину Милну исполнился год. В этот день Милн подарил сыну плюшевого медведя (который, правда, получил имя Пуха только через четыре года).

Игрушки Кристофера Робина, ставшие прототипами героев книги (кроме Крошки Ру, который не сохранился), с 1947 находятся в США (отданы туда Милном-отцом на выставку, а после его смерти приобретены издательством «Даттон»), до 1969 хранились в издательстве, а в настоящее время выставлены в Нью-Йоркской публичной библиотеке^[10]. Многие британцы считают, что эта важнейшая часть культурного наследия страны должна вернуться на родину. Вопрос о реституции игрушек поднимался даже в британском Парламенте (1998 ^[11]).

Игра в Пустяки (Poohsticks), в которой соревнующиеся бросают палочки в текущую реку с моста и ждут, чья палочка первой пересечёт финишную прямую, со страниц книг Милна шагнула в действительность. Каждый год в Оксфордшире проводятся чемпионаты по Пустякам.

Один из самых знаменитых переводов книг о Пухе на иностранные языки — перевод Александра Ленарда на латинский язык под названием Winnie ille Pu^[12]. Первое издание вышло в 1958 году, а в 1960 латинский Пух стал первой книгой не на английском языке, вошедшей в список бестселлеров «Нью-Йорк Таймс». На обложке ряда изданий Винни изображён в одеянии римского легионера с коротким мечом в левой лапке.

Винни-Пух изображён на почтовых марках по меньшей мере 18 государств (в том числе почты СССР в 1988 г., марка посвящена истории советского мультфильма). Отдельного упоминания заслуживает также канадская серия из четырёх марок, где на одной марке изображён лейтенант Гарри Колборн с медвежонком Виннипег, на другой — маленький Кристофер Робин с плюшевым медведем, на третьей — герои иллюстраций Шепарда, на четвёртой — диснеевский Пух на фоне Walt Disney World во Флориде.

Список фильмов студии Диснея о Винни-Пухе

Здесь и далее для единообразия используются имена, принятые в переводе Заходера, а не употребляемые теперь в русских изданиях компании Диснея (Хрюник, Тигруля и проч.)

Короткие мультфильмы

• 1966: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (Винни-Пух и медовое дерево)
• 1968: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (можно перевести так же, как и советский мультфильм: Винни-Пух и день забот)
• 1974: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (Винни-Пух, а с ним и Тигра)
• 1981: Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons (Пух открывает времена года)
• 1983: Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (Пух и праздник для Иа-Иа)

Полнометражные мультфильмы

• 1977: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Множество приключений Винни-Пуха; объединяет три первые коротких мультфильма)
• 1997: Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (Большое приключение Винни-Пуха: в поисках Кристофера Робина)
• 1999: Seasons of Giving (Времена подарков)
• 2000: The Tigger Movie (Тигра)
• 2002: A Very Merry Pooh Year (Весёлый Пуховый Год)
• 2003: Piglet’s Big Movie (Большой фильм о Пятачке)
• 2004: Springtime with Roo (Лето вместе с Крошкой Ру)
• 2005: Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (Пухов Слонопотам)
• 2005: Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie (Пухов Слонопотам: Хэллоуин)

Телесериалы

• Welcome to Pooh Corner (Добро пожаловать на Пухову опушку, Disney Channel, 1983—1995)
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Новые приключения Винни-Пуха,
• The Book of Pooh (Пухова Книга, Disney Channel, 2001—2002)
• My Friends Tigger & Pooh (Мои друзья Тигра и Пух, Disney Channel, 2007-)

Специальные праздничные выпуски

• 1991: Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too! (Винни-Пух и Рождество)
• 1996: Boo! To You Too! Winnie the Pooh
• 1998: A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving (Пухов День Благодарения)
• 1998: Winnie the Pooh, A Valentine For You (Винни-Пух, тебе валентинка!)

В фильмах 1960—1970-х годов Винни озвучивал Стерлинг Холлоуэй, с 1988 его роль читает Джим Каммингз.

Компьютерные игры о Винни-Пухе

• Winnie the Pooh: Adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood (Game Boy Color)
• Винни Пух (ZX Spectrum)
• Tiger’s Game (PC)
• а также многочисленные онлайн-игры ^[13]

Примечания

1. ↑ Газета. Ру: Винни-Пух удостоен звезды на аллее славы в Голливуде
2. ↑ BBC: Новая подруга Пуха (англ.)
3. ↑ Б. Заходер. Приключения Винни-Пуха
4. ↑ Сетевые пародии о Винни-Пухе
5. ↑ Винни Пух и философия обыденного языка… Перевод с английского Т. Михайловой и В. Руднева, статьи и комментарии В. Руднева, М., 1996, с. 7
6. ↑ Руднев, с. 32
7. ↑ Руднев, с. 34
8. ↑ Руднев, с. 7
9. ↑ Руднев, с. 9
10. ↑ Приключения с реальным Винни-Пухом (англ.)
11. ↑ BBC: Нью-Йорк удерживает Винни-Пуха и его друзей (англ.)
12. ↑ Winnie ille Pu, сайт о латинском переводе
13. ↑ См., например, на сайтах disney.go.com; fredscorner.nl; zianet.com

Ссылки

• Сайт о Винни Пухе — Сайт о Винни Пухе, Картинки, Видео, интересная подборка сказок, история возникновения.
• Медведица Винни: фотоальбом из канадских архивов.
• Медведь по имени Винни — игровой фильм о судьбе медведицы Виннипег.
• Русский сайт о Винни-Пухе: оригинальный текст, перевод Заходера, собрание иллюстраций, библиотека литературы о Винни-Пухе, фрагменты фильмов и аудиозаписей
• О судебном деле относительно авторских прав на Пуха
• Винни Пух ремикс
• «Патология в Стоакровом лесу»: медицинское исследование «Винни-Пуха»(pdf)
• Официальный сайт последнего диснеевского фильма о Пухе «Пухов Слонопотам»
• Смотреть online «Винни-Пух и все-все-все»
• Винни-Пух и все-все-все на сайте «Аниматор.ру»
• Фоторепортаж с открытия выставки «Винни-Пух и всё-всё-всё», Москва,19 октября 2005 г.
• Александра Борисенко «Песни невинности и песни опыта. О новых переводах „Винни-Пуха“»
• Сергей Курий — «Как попасть в Зачарованное Место (Винни-Пух и всё-всё-всё)»

Winnie-the-Pooh
Pooh in an illustration by E. H. Shepard
First appearance	When We Were Very Young (1924; as Edward Bear) Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
Created by	A. A. Milne E. H. Shepard
Based on	Winnie the bear
In-universe information
Nickname	Pooh Bear Pooh
Species	Teddy Bear
Gender	Male
Home	Hundred Acre Wood

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.

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 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]

In 1961, Walt Disney Productions licensed certain film and other rights of Milne’s 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.

History

Origin

A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, on whom the character Christopher Robin was based. Shepard in turn based his illustrations of Pooh on his own son’s teddy bear named Growler, instead of Christopher Robin’s bear.^[2] The rest of Christopher Milne’s toys – Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger – were incorporated into Milne’s stories.^[3][4] Two more characters, Owl and Rabbit, were created by Milne’s imagination, while Gopher was added to the Disney version. Christopher Robin’s toy bear is on display at the Main Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City.^[5]

Christopher Robin Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and Pooh, a friend’s pet swan they had encountered while on holiday.^[6][7] His father had bought him the toy bear in 1921 from Harrods department store.^[8] The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for C$20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River, Ontario, while en route to England during the First World War.^[9] Colebourn, a veterinary officer with the Fort Garry Horse cavalry regiment, named the bear Winnie after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba.^[10][11] Winnie was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much-loved attraction there.^[12] Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.

In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne offers this explanation of why Winnie-the-Pooh is often called simply «Pooh»:

But his arms were so stiff … they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh.

American writer William Safire surmised that the Milnes’ invention of the name «Winnie the Pooh» may have also been influenced by the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado (1885).^[14]

Ashdown Forest: the setting for the stories

The Winnie-the-Pooh stories are set in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, England. The forest is an area of tranquil open heathland on the highest sandy ridges of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty situated 30 miles (50 km) south-east of London. In 1925 Milne, a Londoner, bought a country home a mile to the north of the forest at Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield. According to Christopher Robin Milne, while his father continued to live in London «…the four of us – he, his wife, his son and his son’s nanny – would pile into a large blue, chauffeur-driven Fiat and travel down every Saturday morning and back again every Monday afternoon. And we would spend a whole glorious month there in the spring and two months in the summer.»^[15] From the front lawn the family had a view across a meadow to a line of alders that fringed the River Medway, beyond which the ground rose through more trees until finally «above them, in the faraway distance, crowning the view, was a bare hilltop. In the centre of this hilltop was a clump of pines.» Most of his father’s visits to the forest at that time were, he noted, family expeditions on foot «to make yet another attempt to count the pine trees on Gill’s Lap or to search for the marsh gentian». Christopher added that, inspired by Ashdown Forest, his father had made it «the setting for two of his books, finishing the second little over three years after his arrival».^[16]

Many locations in the stories can be associated with real places in and around the forest. As Christopher Milne wrote in his autobiography: «Pooh’s forest and Ashdown Forest are identical.» For example, the fictional «Hundred Acre Wood» was in reality Five Hundred Acre Wood; Galleon’s Leap was inspired by the prominent hilltop of Gill’s Lap, while a clump of trees just north of Gill’s Lap became Christopher Robin’s The Enchanted Place, because no-one had ever been able to count whether there were 63 or 64 trees in the circle.^[17]

The landscapes depicted in E. H. Shepard’s illustrations for the Winnie-the-Pooh books were directly inspired by the distinctive landscape of Ashdown Forest, with its high, open heathlands of heather, gorse, bracken and silver birch, punctuated by hilltop clumps of pine trees. Many of Shepard’s illustrations can be matched to actual views, allowing for a degree of artistic licence. Shepard’s sketches of pine trees and other forest scenes are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.^[18]

The game of Poohsticks was originally played by Christopher Milne on the wooden footbridge,^[19] across the Millbrook,^[20] Posingford Wood, close to Cotchford Farm. It is now a tourist attraction, and it has become traditional to play the game there using sticks gathered in the nearby woodland.^[19][21] When the footbridge had to be replaced in 1999, the architect used as a main source drawings by Shepard in the books, which differ a little from the original structure.

First publication

Christopher Robin’s teddy bear made his character début, under the name Edward, in A. A. Milne’s poem, «Teddy Bear», in the edition of 13 February 1924 of Punch (E. H. Shepard had also included a similar bear in a cartoon published in Punch the previous week^[22]), and the same poem was published in Milne’s book of children’s verse When We Were Very Young (6 November 1924).^[23] Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name on 24 December 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London newspaper Evening News. It was illustrated by J. H. Dowd.^[24]

The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book Winnie-the-Pooh. The Evening News Christmas story reappeared as the first chapter of the book. At the beginning, it explained that Pooh was in fact Christopher Robin’s Edward Bear, who had been renamed by the boy. He was renamed after an American black bear at London Zoo called Winnie who got her name from the fact that her owner had come from Winnipeg, Canada. The book was published in October 1926 by the publisher of Milne’s earlier children’s work, Methuen, in England, E. P. Dutton in the United States, and McClelland & Stewart in Canada.^[25]

Appearance

The original drawing of Pooh was based not on Christopher Robin’s bear, but on Growler, the teddy bear belonging to Shepard’s son Graham, according to James Campbell, husband of Shepard’s great-granddaughter. When Campbell took over Shepard’s estate in 2010, he discovered many drawings and unpublished writings, including early drawings of Pooh, that had not been seen in decades. Campbell said, «Both he and AA Milne realised that Christopher Robin’s bear was too gruff-looking, not very cuddly, so they decided they would have to have a different bear for the illustrations.»^[26] Campbell said Shepard sent Milne a drawing of his son’s bear and that Milne «said it was perfect». Campbell also said Shepard’s drawings of Christopher Robin were based partly on his own son.^[26]

Character

In the Milne books, Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful, and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he is «a bear of very little brain», Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. These include riding in Christopher Robin’s umbrella to rescue Piglet from a flood, discovering «the North Pole» by picking it up to help fish Roo out of the river, inventing the game of Poohsticks, and getting Eeyore out of the river by dropping a large rock on one side of him to wash him towards the bank.

Pooh is also a talented poet and the stories are frequently punctuated by his poems and «hums». Although he is humble about his slow-wittedness, he is comfortable with his creative gifts. When Owl’s house blows down in a windstorm, trapping Pooh, Piglet and Owl inside, Pooh encourages Piglet (the only one small enough to do so) to escape and rescue them all by promising that «a respectful Pooh song» will be written about Piglet’s feat. Later, Pooh muses about the creative process as he composes the song.

Pooh is very fond of food, particularly honey (which he spells «hunny»), but also condensed milk and other items. When he visits friends, his desire to be offered a snack is in conflict with the impoliteness of asking too directly. Though intent on giving Eeyore a pot of honey for his birthday, Pooh could not resist eating it on his way to deliver the present and so instead gives Eeyore «a useful pot to put things in». When he and Piglet are lost in the forest during Rabbit’s attempt to «unbounce» Tigger, Pooh finds his way home by following the «call» of the honeypots from his house. Pooh makes it a habit to have «a little something» around 11:00 in the morning. As the clock in his house «stopped at five minutes to eleven some weeks ago», any time can be Pooh’s snack time.

Pooh is very social. After Christopher Robin, his closest friend is Piglet, and he most often chooses to spend his time with one or both of them. But he also habitually visits the other animals, often looking for a snack or an audience for his poetry as much as for companionship. His kind-heartedness means he goes out of his way to be friendly to Eeyore, visiting him and bringing him a birthday present and building him a house, despite receiving mostly disdain from Eeyore in return. Devan Coggan of Entertainment Weekly saw a similarity between Pooh and Paddington Bear, two «extremely polite British bears without pants», adding that «both bears share a philosophy of kindness and integrity».^[27]

Posthumous sequels

An authorised sequel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood was published on 5 October 2009. The author, David Benedictus, has developed, but not changed, Milne’s characterisations. The illustrations, by Mark Burgess, are in the style of Shepard.^[28]

Another authorised sequel, Winnie-the-Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World, was published by Egmont in 2016. The sequel consists of four short stories by four leading children’s authors, Kate Saunders, Brian Sibley, Paul Bright, and Jeanne Willis. Illustrations are by Mark Burgess.^[29] The Best Bear in All The World sees the introduction of a new character, Penguin, which was inspired by a long-lost photograph of Milne and his son Christopher with a toy penguin.^[30][31]

In 2016, Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen was published to mark the 90th anniversary of Milne’s creation and the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. It sees Pooh meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace.^[32]

Stephen Slesinger

On 6 January 1930, Stephen Slesinger purchased US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording, and other trade rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works from Milne for a $1,000 advance and 66% of Slesinger’s income, creating the modern licensing industry. By November 1931, Pooh was a $50 million-a-year business.^[33] Slesinger marketed Pooh and his friends for more than 30 years, creating the first Pooh doll, record, board game, puzzle, US radio broadcast (on NBC), animation, and motion picture.^[34]

Red shirt Pooh

The first time Pooh and his friends appeared in colour was 1932, when he was drawn by Slesinger in his now-familiar red shirt and featured on an RCA Victor picture record. Parker Brothers introduced A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh Game in 1933, again with Pooh in his red shirt. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in a shirt.^[35][36]

Disney exclusivity (1953–2021)

After Slesinger’s death in 1953, his wife, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, continued developing the character herself. In 1961, she licensed rights to Walt Disney Productions in exchange for royalties in the first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and Disney.^[37] The same year, A. A. Milne’s widow, Daphne Milne, also licensed certain rights, including motion picture rights, to Disney.

Since 1966, Disney has released numerous animated productions starring its version of Winnie the Pooh and related characters, starting with the theatrical featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. This was followed by Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974). These three featurettes were combined into a feature-length movie, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, in 1977. A fourth featurette, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, was released in 1983.

A new series of Winnie the Pooh theatrical feature-length films launched in the 2000s, with The Tigger Movie (2000), Piglet’s Big Movie (2003), Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005), and Winnie the Pooh (2011).

Disney has also produced television series based on the franchise, including Welcome to Pooh Corner (Disney Channel, 1983–1986), The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (ABC, 1988–1991), The Book of Pooh (Playhouse Disney, 2001–2003), and My Friends Tigger & Pooh (Playhouse Disney, 2007–2010).

A.A. Milne’s U.S. copyright in the Winnie-the-Pooh character expired at the end of 2021, as it had been 95 years since publication of the first story. The character has thus entered the public domain in the United States and Disney no longer holds exclusive rights there. Independent filmmaker Rhys Frake-Wakefield capitalized on this shortly thereafter by producing a horror film titled Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.^[38] The UK copyright will expire on 1 January 2027, the 70th year since Milne’s death.^[39]

Merchandising revenue dispute

Pooh videos, soft toys, and other merchandise generate substantial annual revenues for Disney. The size of Pooh stuffed toys ranges from Beanie and miniature to human-sized. In addition to the stylised Disney Pooh, Disney markets Classic Pooh merchandise which more closely resembles E. H. Shepard’s illustrations.

In 1991, Stephen Slesinger, Inc., filed a lawsuit against Disney which alleged that Disney had breached their 1983 agreement by again failing to accurately report revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales. Under this agreement, Disney was to retain approximately 98% of gross worldwide revenues while the remaining 2% was to be paid to Slesinger. In addition, the suit alleged that Disney had failed to pay required royalties on all commercial exploitation of the product name.^[40] Though the Disney corporation was sanctioned by a judge for destroying forty boxes of evidentiary documents,^[41] the suit was later terminated by another judge when it was discovered that Slesinger’s investigator had rummaged through Disney’s garbage to retrieve the discarded evidence.^[42] Slesinger appealed the termination and, on 26 September 2007, a three-judge panel upheld the lawsuit dismissal.^[43]

After the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, Clare Milne, Christopher Robin Milne’s daughter, attempted to terminate any future US copyrights for Stephen Slesinger, Inc.^[44] After a series of legal hearings, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the US District Court in California found in favour of Stephen Slesinger, Inc., as did the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On 26 June 2006, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, sustaining the ruling and ensuring the defeat of the suit.^[45]

On 19 February 2007, Disney lost a court case in Los Angeles which ruled their «misguided claims» to dispute the licensing agreements with Slesinger, Inc., were unjustified,^[46] but a federal ruling of 28 September 2009, again from Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, determined that the Slesinger family had granted all trademarks and copyrights to Disney, although Disney must pay royalties for all future use of the characters. Both parties expressed satisfaction with the outcome.^[47][48]

Other adaptations

Theatre

• 1931. Winnie-the-Pooh at the Guild Theater, Sue Hastings Marionettes^[49]
• 1957. Winnie-the-Pooh, a play in three acts, dramatized by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1964. Winnie-the-Pooh, a musical comedy in two acts, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, music by Allan Jay Friedman, book by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1977. A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, in which Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends help Eeyore have a very Merry Christmas (or a very happy birthday), with the book, music, and lyrics by James W. Rogers, Dramatic Publishing Company^[50]
• 1986. Bother! The Brain of Pooh, Peter Dennis
• 1992. Winnie-the-Pooh, small cast musical version, dramatized by le Clanché du Rand, music by Allan Jay Friedman, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, additional lyrics by le Clanché du Rand, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 2021. Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation^[51]

Audio

Selected Pooh stories read by Maurice Evans released on vinyl LP:

• 1956. Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Introducing Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin»; «Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place»; and «Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle»)
• More Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Eeyore Loses a Tail»; «Piglet Meets a Heffalump»; «Eeyore Has a Birthday»)

In 1951, RCA Records released four stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, narrated by Jimmy Stewart and featuring the voices of Cecil Roy as Pooh, Madeleine Pierce as Piglet, Betty Jane Tyler as Kanga, Merrill Joels as Eeyore, Arnold Stang as Rabbit, Frank Milano as Owl, and Sandy Fussell as Christopher Robin.^[52]

In 1960, HMV recorded a dramatised version with songs (music by Harold Fraser-Simson) of two episodes from The House at Pooh Corner (Chapters 2 and 8), starring Ian Carmichael as Pooh, Denise Bryer as Christopher Robin (who also narrated), Hugh Lloyd as Tigger, Penny Morrell as Piglet, and Terry Norris as Eeyore. This was released on a 45 rpm EP.^[53]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Carol Channing recorded Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner and The Winnie the Pooh Songbook, with music by Don Heckman. These were released on vinyl LP and audio cassette by Caedmon Records.

Unabridged recordings read by Peter Dennis of the four Pooh books:

• When We Were Very Young
• Winnie-the-Pooh
• Now We Are Six
• The House at Pooh Corner

In 1979, a double audio cassette set of Winnie the Pooh was produced featuring British actor Lionel Jeffries reading all of the characters in the stories. This was followed in 1981 by an audio cassette set of stories from The House at Pooh Corner also read by Lionel Jeffries.^[54]

In the 1990s, the stories were dramatised for audio by David Benedictus, with music composed, directed and played by John Gould. They were performed by a cast that included Stephen Fry as Winnie-the-Pooh, Jane Horrocks as Piglet, Geoffrey Palmer as Eeyore, Judi Dench as Kanga, Finty Williams as Roo, Robert Daws as Rabbit, Michael Williams as Owl, Steven Webb as Christopher Robin and Sandi Toksvig as Tigger.^[55]

Radio

• The BBC included readings of Winnie-the-Pooh stories in its programmes for children very soon after their first publication. One of the earliest of such readings, by «Uncle Peter» (C. E. Hodges), was an item in the programme For the Children, broadcast by stations 2LO and 5XX on 23 March 1926. Norman Shelley was the notable voice of Pooh on the BBC’s Children’s Hour.^[56]
• Pooh made his US radio debut on 10 November 1932, when he was broadcast to 40,000 schools by The American School of the Air, the educational division of the Columbia Broadcasting System.^[57]

Film

• 2017: Goodbye Christopher Robin, a British drama film exploring the creation of Winnie-the-Pooh with Domhnall Gleeson playing A. A. Milne.^[58]
• 2018: Christopher Robin, an extension of the Disney Winnie the Pooh franchise, Ewan McGregor plays Christopher Robin Milne, and filming took place at Ashdown Forest.^[59]
• 2023: Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a horror adaptation depicting both Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet as homicidal maniacs who go on a killing spree after Christopher Robin abandons them.^[60]
• 2024: Untitled animated prequel.^[61]

Soviet adaptation

In the Soviet Union, three Winnie-the-Pooh, (transcribed in Russian as Винни-Пух, Vinni Pukh) stories were made into a celebrated trilogy.^[62]

• 1969. Winnie-the-Pooh (Винни-Пух) – based on chapter 1
• 1971. Winnie-the-Pooh Pays a Visit (Винни-Пух идёт в гости) – based on chapter 2
• 1972. Winnie-the-Pooh and a Busy Day (Винни-Пух и день забот) – based on chapters 4 and 6.

The films used Boris Zakhoder’s translation of the book. Pooh was voiced by Yevgeny Leonov. Unlike in the Disney adaptations, the animators did not base their depictions of the characters on Shepard’s illustrations, instead creating a different look. The Soviet adaptations made extensive use of Milne’s original text and often brought out aspects of Milne’s characters’ personalities not used in the Disney adaptations.

Television

• 1960: Shirley Temple’s Storybook on NBC: Winnie-the-Pooh—a version for marionettes, designed, made, and operated by Bil and Cora Baird. Pooh was voiced by future Muppet performer Faz Fazakas.
• During the 1970s, the BBC children’s television show Jackanory serialised the two books, which were read by Willie Rushton.^[63]
• 2024: Untitled animated series.^[61]

Cultural legacy

One of the best known characters in British children’s literature, a 2011 poll saw Winnie-the-Pooh voted onto the list of top 100 «icons of England».^[64] In 2003 the first Pooh story was ranked number 7 on the BBC’s The Big Read poll.^[65] Forbes magazine ranked Pooh the most valuable fictional character in 2002, with merchandising products alone generating more than $5.9 billion that year.^[66] In 2005, Pooh generated $6 billion, a figure surpassed by only Mickey Mouse.^[67] In 2006, Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the 80th birthday of Milne’s creation.^[67] In 2010, E. H. Shepard’s original illustrations of Winnie the Pooh (and other Pooh characters) featured on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail.^[68]

Winnie the Pooh has inspired multiple texts to explain complex philosophical ideas. Benjamin Hoff uses Milne’s characters in The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet to explain Taoism. Similarly, Frederick Crews wrote essays about the Pooh books in abstruse academic jargon in The Pooh Perplex and Postmodern Pooh to satirise a range of philosophical approaches.^[69] Pooh and the Philosophers by John T. Williams uses Winnie the Pooh as a backdrop to illustrate the works of philosophers, including Descartes, Kant, Plato and Nietzsche.^[70] «Epic Pooh» is a 1978 essay by Michael Moorcock that compares much fantasy writing to A. A. Milne’s, as work intended to comfort, not challenge.

In music, Kenny Loggins wrote the song «House at Pooh Corner», which was originally recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.^[71] Loggins later rewrote the song as «Return to Pooh Corner», featuring on the album of the same name in 1991. In Italy, a pop band took their name from Winnie, and were titled Pooh. In Estonia, there is a punk/metal band called Winny Puhh. There is a street in Warsaw, Poland, nammed after the character, the Kubusia Puchatka Street, as he is known in Polish translations as Kubuś Puchatek.^[72] There is also a street named after him in Budapest, Hungary, the Micimackó Street.^[73]

In the «sport» of Poohsticks, competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first. Competitors hold their sticks at arms length at the same height, then drop their sticks into the water at the same time.^[74] Though it began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner and later in the films, it has crossed over into the real world: a World Championship Poohsticks race takes place in Oxfordshire each year. Ashdown Forest in south east England, where the Pooh stories are set, is a popular tourist attraction, and includes the wooden Pooh Bridge where Pooh and Piglet invented Poohsticks.^[75] The Oxford University Winnie the Pooh Society was founded by undergraduates in 1982.^[76]

From December 2017 to April 2018, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London hosted the exhibition Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic.^[77] On exhibit were A. A. Milne’s manuscript of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner (on loan from the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge, Milne’s alma mater to whom he had bequeathed the works), and teddy bears that had not been on display for some 40 years because they were so fragile.^[78][79]

In 2018, E. H. Shepard’s original 1926 illustrated map of the Hundred Acre Wood, which features in the opening pages of Milne’s books and also appears in the opening animation in the first Disney adaptation in 1966, sold for £430,000 ($600,000) at Sotheby’s in London, setting a world record for book illustrations.^[80][81]

The Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu regards Pooh as his lucky charm.^[82] He is usually seen with a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh during his figure skating competitions. Because of this, Hanyu’s fans will throw stuffed Winnie-the-Poohs onto the ice after his performance.^[83] After one of Hanyu’s performances at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, one spectator remarked that «the ice turned yellow» because of all the Poohs thrown onto the ice.^[84]

Censorship in China

In the People’s Republic of China, images of Pooh were censored from social media websites in mid-2017, when Internet memes comparing Chinese Paramount Leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping to (Disney’s version of) Pooh became popular.^[85] The 2018 film Christopher Robin was also denied a Chinese release.^[86]

When Xi visited the Philippines, protestors posted images of Pooh on social media.^[87] Other politicians have been compared to Winnie-the-Pooh characters alongside Xi, including Barack Obama as Tigger, Carrie Lam, Rodrigo Duterte,^[88] and Peng Liyuan as Piglet,^[89] and Fernando Chui and Shinzo Abe as Eeyore.^[90]

Pooh’s Chinese name (Chinese: 小熊维尼; lit. ‘little bear Winnie’) has been censored from video games such as World of Warcraft, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Arena of Valor,^[91] and Devotion.^[92] Images of Pooh in Kingdom Hearts III were also blurred out on the gaming site A9VG.^[93]

Despite the ban, two Pooh-themed rides still operate in Disneyland Shanghai, and it is also legal to purchase Pooh-bear merchandise and books about Winnie the Pooh in China.^[94][95] In May 2021, a performer dressed up as Winnie-the-Pooh in Shanghai Disneyland was beaten by a child tourist. Mass media in China used the term “Pooh Pooh Bear” (Chinese: 噗噗熊) in reports about this incident because the word “Winnie” has been censored. However, search results of “Pooh Pooh Bear hurt in Shanghai Disneyland” were censored on Weibo after this incident happened.^[96][97]

In October 2019, Pooh was featured in the South Park episode «Band in China» because of his alleged resemblance with Xi. In the episode, Pooh is brutally killed by Randy Marsh. South Park was banned in China as a result of the episode.^[98][99]

References

External links

Winnie-the-Pooh public domain audiobook at LibriVox

• Winnie-the-Pooh at Curlie
• The original bear, with A. A. and Christopher Robin Milne, at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• The real locations, from the Ashdown Forest Conservators
• Winnie-the-Pooh at the New York Public Library
• «Winnie the Pooh saga turns 100 years old», CBC News, 24 August 2014.
• «The skull of the ‘real’ Winnie goes on display», BBC News, 20 November 2015.

Winnie-the-Pooh
Pooh in an illustration by E. H. Shepard
First appearance	When We Were Very Young (1924; as Edward Bear) Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
Created by	A. A. Milne E. H. Shepard
Based on	Winnie the bear
In-universe information
Nickname	Pooh Bear Pooh
Species	Teddy Bear
Gender	Male
Home	Hundred Acre Wood

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.

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 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]

In 1961, Walt Disney Productions licensed certain film and other rights of Milne’s 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.

History

Origin

A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, on whom the character Christopher Robin was based. Shepard in turn based his illustrations of Pooh on his own son’s teddy bear named Growler, instead of Christopher Robin’s bear.^[2] The rest of Christopher Milne’s toys – Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger – were incorporated into Milne’s stories.^[3][4] Two more characters, Owl and Rabbit, were created by Milne’s imagination, while Gopher was added to the Disney version. Christopher Robin’s toy bear is on display at the Main Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City.^[5]

Christopher Robin Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and Pooh, a friend’s pet swan they had encountered while on holiday.^[6][7] His father had bought him the toy bear in 1921 from Harrods department store.^[8] The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for C$20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River, Ontario, while en route to England during the First World War.^[9] Colebourn, a veterinary officer with the Fort Garry Horse cavalry regiment, named the bear Winnie after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba.^[10][11] Winnie was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much-loved attraction there.^[12] Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.

In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne offers this explanation of why Winnie-the-Pooh is often called simply «Pooh»:

But his arms were so stiff … they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh.

American writer William Safire surmised that the Milnes’ invention of the name «Winnie the Pooh» may have also been influenced by the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado (1885).^[14]

Ashdown Forest: the setting for the stories

The Winnie-the-Pooh stories are set in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, England. The forest is an area of tranquil open heathland on the highest sandy ridges of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty situated 30 miles (50 km) south-east of London. In 1925 Milne, a Londoner, bought a country home a mile to the north of the forest at Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield. According to Christopher Robin Milne, while his father continued to live in London «…the four of us – he, his wife, his son and his son’s nanny – would pile into a large blue, chauffeur-driven Fiat and travel down every Saturday morning and back again every Monday afternoon. And we would spend a whole glorious month there in the spring and two months in the summer.»^[15] From the front lawn the family had a view across a meadow to a line of alders that fringed the River Medway, beyond which the ground rose through more trees until finally «above them, in the faraway distance, crowning the view, was a bare hilltop. In the centre of this hilltop was a clump of pines.» Most of his father’s visits to the forest at that time were, he noted, family expeditions on foot «to make yet another attempt to count the pine trees on Gill’s Lap or to search for the marsh gentian». Christopher added that, inspired by Ashdown Forest, his father had made it «the setting for two of his books, finishing the second little over three years after his arrival».^[16]

Many locations in the stories can be associated with real places in and around the forest. As Christopher Milne wrote in his autobiography: «Pooh’s forest and Ashdown Forest are identical.» For example, the fictional «Hundred Acre Wood» was in reality Five Hundred Acre Wood; Galleon’s Leap was inspired by the prominent hilltop of Gill’s Lap, while a clump of trees just north of Gill’s Lap became Christopher Robin’s The Enchanted Place, because no-one had ever been able to count whether there were 63 or 64 trees in the circle.^[17]

The landscapes depicted in E. H. Shepard’s illustrations for the Winnie-the-Pooh books were directly inspired by the distinctive landscape of Ashdown Forest, with its high, open heathlands of heather, gorse, bracken and silver birch, punctuated by hilltop clumps of pine trees. Many of Shepard’s illustrations can be matched to actual views, allowing for a degree of artistic licence. Shepard’s sketches of pine trees and other forest scenes are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.^[18]

The game of Poohsticks was originally played by Christopher Milne on the wooden footbridge,^[19] across the Millbrook,^[20] Posingford Wood, close to Cotchford Farm. It is now a tourist attraction, and it has become traditional to play the game there using sticks gathered in the nearby woodland.^[19][21] When the footbridge had to be replaced in 1999, the architect used as a main source drawings by Shepard in the books, which differ a little from the original structure.

First publication

Christopher Robin’s teddy bear made his character début, under the name Edward, in A. A. Milne’s poem, «Teddy Bear», in the edition of 13 February 1924 of Punch (E. H. Shepard had also included a similar bear in a cartoon published in Punch the previous week^[22]), and the same poem was published in Milne’s book of children’s verse When We Were Very Young (6 November 1924).^[23] Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name on 24 December 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London newspaper Evening News. It was illustrated by J. H. Dowd.^[24]

The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book Winnie-the-Pooh. The Evening News Christmas story reappeared as the first chapter of the book. At the beginning, it explained that Pooh was in fact Christopher Robin’s Edward Bear, who had been renamed by the boy. He was renamed after an American black bear at London Zoo called Winnie who got her name from the fact that her owner had come from Winnipeg, Canada. The book was published in October 1926 by the publisher of Milne’s earlier children’s work, Methuen, in England, E. P. Dutton in the United States, and McClelland & Stewart in Canada.^[25]

Appearance

The original drawing of Pooh was based not on Christopher Robin’s bear, but on Growler, the teddy bear belonging to Shepard’s son Graham, according to James Campbell, husband of Shepard’s great-granddaughter. When Campbell took over Shepard’s estate in 2010, he discovered many drawings and unpublished writings, including early drawings of Pooh, that had not been seen in decades. Campbell said, «Both he and AA Milne realised that Christopher Robin’s bear was too gruff-looking, not very cuddly, so they decided they would have to have a different bear for the illustrations.»^[26] Campbell said Shepard sent Milne a drawing of his son’s bear and that Milne «said it was perfect». Campbell also said Shepard’s drawings of Christopher Robin were based partly on his own son.^[26]

Character

In the Milne books, Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful, and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he is «a bear of very little brain», Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. These include riding in Christopher Robin’s umbrella to rescue Piglet from a flood, discovering «the North Pole» by picking it up to help fish Roo out of the river, inventing the game of Poohsticks, and getting Eeyore out of the river by dropping a large rock on one side of him to wash him towards the bank.

Pooh is also a talented poet and the stories are frequently punctuated by his poems and «hums». Although he is humble about his slow-wittedness, he is comfortable with his creative gifts. When Owl’s house blows down in a windstorm, trapping Pooh, Piglet and Owl inside, Pooh encourages Piglet (the only one small enough to do so) to escape and rescue them all by promising that «a respectful Pooh song» will be written about Piglet’s feat. Later, Pooh muses about the creative process as he composes the song.

Pooh is very fond of food, particularly honey (which he spells «hunny»), but also condensed milk and other items. When he visits friends, his desire to be offered a snack is in conflict with the impoliteness of asking too directly. Though intent on giving Eeyore a pot of honey for his birthday, Pooh could not resist eating it on his way to deliver the present and so instead gives Eeyore «a useful pot to put things in». When he and Piglet are lost in the forest during Rabbit’s attempt to «unbounce» Tigger, Pooh finds his way home by following the «call» of the honeypots from his house. Pooh makes it a habit to have «a little something» around 11:00 in the morning. As the clock in his house «stopped at five minutes to eleven some weeks ago», any time can be Pooh’s snack time.

Pooh is very social. After Christopher Robin, his closest friend is Piglet, and he most often chooses to spend his time with one or both of them. But he also habitually visits the other animals, often looking for a snack or an audience for his poetry as much as for companionship. His kind-heartedness means he goes out of his way to be friendly to Eeyore, visiting him and bringing him a birthday present and building him a house, despite receiving mostly disdain from Eeyore in return. Devan Coggan of Entertainment Weekly saw a similarity between Pooh and Paddington Bear, two «extremely polite British bears without pants», adding that «both bears share a philosophy of kindness and integrity».^[27]

Posthumous sequels

An authorised sequel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood was published on 5 October 2009. The author, David Benedictus, has developed, but not changed, Milne’s characterisations. The illustrations, by Mark Burgess, are in the style of Shepard.^[28]

Another authorised sequel, Winnie-the-Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World, was published by Egmont in 2016. The sequel consists of four short stories by four leading children’s authors, Kate Saunders, Brian Sibley, Paul Bright, and Jeanne Willis. Illustrations are by Mark Burgess.^[29] The Best Bear in All The World sees the introduction of a new character, Penguin, which was inspired by a long-lost photograph of Milne and his son Christopher with a toy penguin.^[30][31]

In 2016, Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen was published to mark the 90th anniversary of Milne’s creation and the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. It sees Pooh meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace.^[32]

Stephen Slesinger

On 6 January 1930, Stephen Slesinger purchased US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording, and other trade rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works from Milne for a $1,000 advance and 66% of Slesinger’s income, creating the modern licensing industry. By November 1931, Pooh was a $50 million-a-year business.^[33] Slesinger marketed Pooh and his friends for more than 30 years, creating the first Pooh doll, record, board game, puzzle, US radio broadcast (on NBC), animation, and motion picture.^[34]

Red shirt Pooh

The first time Pooh and his friends appeared in colour was 1932, when he was drawn by Slesinger in his now-familiar red shirt and featured on an RCA Victor picture record. Parker Brothers introduced A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh Game in 1933, again with Pooh in his red shirt. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in a shirt.^[35][36]

Disney exclusivity (1953–2021)

After Slesinger’s death in 1953, his wife, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, continued developing the character herself. In 1961, she licensed rights to Walt Disney Productions in exchange for royalties in the first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and Disney.^[37] The same year, A. A. Milne’s widow, Daphne Milne, also licensed certain rights, including motion picture rights, to Disney.

Since 1966, Disney has released numerous animated productions starring its version of Winnie the Pooh and related characters, starting with the theatrical featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. This was followed by Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974). These three featurettes were combined into a feature-length movie, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, in 1977. A fourth featurette, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, was released in 1983.

A new series of Winnie the Pooh theatrical feature-length films launched in the 2000s, with The Tigger Movie (2000), Piglet’s Big Movie (2003), Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005), and Winnie the Pooh (2011).

Disney has also produced television series based on the franchise, including Welcome to Pooh Corner (Disney Channel, 1983–1986), The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (ABC, 1988–1991), The Book of Pooh (Playhouse Disney, 2001–2003), and My Friends Tigger & Pooh (Playhouse Disney, 2007–2010).

A.A. Milne’s U.S. copyright in the Winnie-the-Pooh character expired at the end of 2021, as it had been 95 years since publication of the first story. The character has thus entered the public domain in the United States and Disney no longer holds exclusive rights there. Independent filmmaker Rhys Frake-Wakefield capitalized on this shortly thereafter by producing a horror film titled Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.^[38] The UK copyright will expire on 1 January 2027, the 70th year since Milne’s death.^[39]

Merchandising revenue dispute

Pooh videos, soft toys, and other merchandise generate substantial annual revenues for Disney. The size of Pooh stuffed toys ranges from Beanie and miniature to human-sized. In addition to the stylised Disney Pooh, Disney markets Classic Pooh merchandise which more closely resembles E. H. Shepard’s illustrations.

In 1991, Stephen Slesinger, Inc., filed a lawsuit against Disney which alleged that Disney had breached their 1983 agreement by again failing to accurately report revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales. Under this agreement, Disney was to retain approximately 98% of gross worldwide revenues while the remaining 2% was to be paid to Slesinger. In addition, the suit alleged that Disney had failed to pay required royalties on all commercial exploitation of the product name.^[40] Though the Disney corporation was sanctioned by a judge for destroying forty boxes of evidentiary documents,^[41] the suit was later terminated by another judge when it was discovered that Slesinger’s investigator had rummaged through Disney’s garbage to retrieve the discarded evidence.^[42] Slesinger appealed the termination and, on 26 September 2007, a three-judge panel upheld the lawsuit dismissal.^[43]

After the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, Clare Milne, Christopher Robin Milne’s daughter, attempted to terminate any future US copyrights for Stephen Slesinger, Inc.^[44] After a series of legal hearings, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the US District Court in California found in favour of Stephen Slesinger, Inc., as did the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On 26 June 2006, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, sustaining the ruling and ensuring the defeat of the suit.^[45]

On 19 February 2007, Disney lost a court case in Los Angeles which ruled their «misguided claims» to dispute the licensing agreements with Slesinger, Inc., were unjustified,^[46] but a federal ruling of 28 September 2009, again from Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, determined that the Slesinger family had granted all trademarks and copyrights to Disney, although Disney must pay royalties for all future use of the characters. Both parties expressed satisfaction with the outcome.^[47][48]

Other adaptations

Theatre

• 1931. Winnie-the-Pooh at the Guild Theater, Sue Hastings Marionettes^[49]
• 1957. Winnie-the-Pooh, a play in three acts, dramatized by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1964. Winnie-the-Pooh, a musical comedy in two acts, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, music by Allan Jay Friedman, book by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1977. A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, in which Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends help Eeyore have a very Merry Christmas (or a very happy birthday), with the book, music, and lyrics by James W. Rogers, Dramatic Publishing Company^[50]
• 1986. Bother! The Brain of Pooh, Peter Dennis
• 1992. Winnie-the-Pooh, small cast musical version, dramatized by le Clanché du Rand, music by Allan Jay Friedman, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, additional lyrics by le Clanché du Rand, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 2021. Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation^[51]

Audio

Selected Pooh stories read by Maurice Evans released on vinyl LP:

• 1956. Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Introducing Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin»; «Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place»; and «Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle»)
• More Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Eeyore Loses a Tail»; «Piglet Meets a Heffalump»; «Eeyore Has a Birthday»)

In 1951, RCA Records released four stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, narrated by Jimmy Stewart and featuring the voices of Cecil Roy as Pooh, Madeleine Pierce as Piglet, Betty Jane Tyler as Kanga, Merrill Joels as Eeyore, Arnold Stang as Rabbit, Frank Milano as Owl, and Sandy Fussell as Christopher Robin.^[52]

In 1960, HMV recorded a dramatised version with songs (music by Harold Fraser-Simson) of two episodes from The House at Pooh Corner (Chapters 2 and 8), starring Ian Carmichael as Pooh, Denise Bryer as Christopher Robin (who also narrated), Hugh Lloyd as Tigger, Penny Morrell as Piglet, and Terry Norris as Eeyore. This was released on a 45 rpm EP.^[53]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Carol Channing recorded Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner and The Winnie the Pooh Songbook, with music by Don Heckman. These were released on vinyl LP and audio cassette by Caedmon Records.

Unabridged recordings read by Peter Dennis of the four Pooh books:

• When We Were Very Young
• Winnie-the-Pooh
• Now We Are Six
• The House at Pooh Corner

In 1979, a double audio cassette set of Winnie the Pooh was produced featuring British actor Lionel Jeffries reading all of the characters in the stories. This was followed in 1981 by an audio cassette set of stories from The House at Pooh Corner also read by Lionel Jeffries.^[54]

In the 1990s, the stories were dramatised for audio by David Benedictus, with music composed, directed and played by John Gould. They were performed by a cast that included Stephen Fry as Winnie-the-Pooh, Jane Horrocks as Piglet, Geoffrey Palmer as Eeyore, Judi Dench as Kanga, Finty Williams as Roo, Robert Daws as Rabbit, Michael Williams as Owl, Steven Webb as Christopher Robin and Sandi Toksvig as Tigger.^[55]

Radio

• The BBC included readings of Winnie-the-Pooh stories in its programmes for children very soon after their first publication. One of the earliest of such readings, by «Uncle Peter» (C. E. Hodges), was an item in the programme For the Children, broadcast by stations 2LO and 5XX on 23 March 1926. Norman Shelley was the notable voice of Pooh on the BBC’s Children’s Hour.^[56]
• Pooh made his US radio debut on 10 November 1932, when he was broadcast to 40,000 schools by The American School of the Air, the educational division of the Columbia Broadcasting System.^[57]

Film

• 2017: Goodbye Christopher Robin, a British drama film exploring the creation of Winnie-the-Pooh with Domhnall Gleeson playing A. A. Milne.^[58]
• 2018: Christopher Robin, an extension of the Disney Winnie the Pooh franchise, Ewan McGregor plays Christopher Robin Milne, and filming took place at Ashdown Forest.^[59]
• 2023: Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a horror adaptation depicting both Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet as homicidal maniacs who go on a killing spree after Christopher Robin abandons them.^[60]
• 2024: Untitled animated prequel.^[61]

Soviet adaptation

In the Soviet Union, three Winnie-the-Pooh, (transcribed in Russian as Винни-Пух, Vinni Pukh) stories were made into a celebrated trilogy.^[62]

• 1969. Winnie-the-Pooh (Винни-Пух) – based on chapter 1
• 1971. Winnie-the-Pooh Pays a Visit (Винни-Пух идёт в гости) – based on chapter 2
• 1972. Winnie-the-Pooh and a Busy Day (Винни-Пух и день забот) – based on chapters 4 and 6.

The films used Boris Zakhoder’s translation of the book. Pooh was voiced by Yevgeny Leonov. Unlike in the Disney adaptations, the animators did not base their depictions of the characters on Shepard’s illustrations, instead creating a different look. The Soviet adaptations made extensive use of Milne’s original text and often brought out aspects of Milne’s characters’ personalities not used in the Disney adaptations.

Television

• 1960: Shirley Temple’s Storybook on NBC: Winnie-the-Pooh—a version for marionettes, designed, made, and operated by Bil and Cora Baird. Pooh was voiced by future Muppet performer Faz Fazakas.
• During the 1970s, the BBC children’s television show Jackanory serialised the two books, which were read by Willie Rushton.^[63]
• 2024: Untitled animated series.^[61]

Cultural legacy

One of the best known characters in British children’s literature, a 2011 poll saw Winnie-the-Pooh voted onto the list of top 100 «icons of England».^[64] In 2003 the first Pooh story was ranked number 7 on the BBC’s The Big Read poll.^[65] Forbes magazine ranked Pooh the most valuable fictional character in 2002, with merchandising products alone generating more than $5.9 billion that year.^[66] In 2005, Pooh generated $6 billion, a figure surpassed by only Mickey Mouse.^[67] In 2006, Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the 80th birthday of Milne’s creation.^[67] In 2010, E. H. Shepard’s original illustrations of Winnie the Pooh (and other Pooh characters) featured on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail.^[68]

Winnie the Pooh has inspired multiple texts to explain complex philosophical ideas. Benjamin Hoff uses Milne’s characters in The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet to explain Taoism. Similarly, Frederick Crews wrote essays about the Pooh books in abstruse academic jargon in The Pooh Perplex and Postmodern Pooh to satirise a range of philosophical approaches.^[69] Pooh and the Philosophers by John T. Williams uses Winnie the Pooh as a backdrop to illustrate the works of philosophers, including Descartes, Kant, Plato and Nietzsche.^[70] «Epic Pooh» is a 1978 essay by Michael Moorcock that compares much fantasy writing to A. A. Milne’s, as work intended to comfort, not challenge.

In music, Kenny Loggins wrote the song «House at Pooh Corner», which was originally recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.^[71] Loggins later rewrote the song as «Return to Pooh Corner», featuring on the album of the same name in 1991. In Italy, a pop band took their name from Winnie, and were titled Pooh. In Estonia, there is a punk/metal band called Winny Puhh. There is a street in Warsaw, Poland, nammed after the character, the Kubusia Puchatka Street, as he is known in Polish translations as Kubuś Puchatek.^[72] There is also a street named after him in Budapest, Hungary, the Micimackó Street.^[73]

In the «sport» of Poohsticks, competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first. Competitors hold their sticks at arms length at the same height, then drop their sticks into the water at the same time.^[74] Though it began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner and later in the films, it has crossed over into the real world: a World Championship Poohsticks race takes place in Oxfordshire each year. Ashdown Forest in south east England, where the Pooh stories are set, is a popular tourist attraction, and includes the wooden Pooh Bridge where Pooh and Piglet invented Poohsticks.^[75] The Oxford University Winnie the Pooh Society was founded by undergraduates in 1982.^[76]

From December 2017 to April 2018, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London hosted the exhibition Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic.^[77] On exhibit were A. A. Milne’s manuscript of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner (on loan from the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge, Milne’s alma mater to whom he had bequeathed the works), and teddy bears that had not been on display for some 40 years because they were so fragile.^[78][79]

In 2018, E. H. Shepard’s original 1926 illustrated map of the Hundred Acre Wood, which features in the opening pages of Milne’s books and also appears in the opening animation in the first Disney adaptation in 1966, sold for £430,000 ($600,000) at Sotheby’s in London, setting a world record for book illustrations.^[80][81]

The Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu regards Pooh as his lucky charm.^[82] He is usually seen with a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh during his figure skating competitions. Because of this, Hanyu’s fans will throw stuffed Winnie-the-Poohs onto the ice after his performance.^[83] After one of Hanyu’s performances at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, one spectator remarked that «the ice turned yellow» because of all the Poohs thrown onto the ice.^[84]

Censorship in China

In the People’s Republic of China, images of Pooh were censored from social media websites in mid-2017, when Internet memes comparing Chinese Paramount Leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping to (Disney’s version of) Pooh became popular.^[85] The 2018 film Christopher Robin was also denied a Chinese release.^[86]

When Xi visited the Philippines, protestors posted images of Pooh on social media.^[87] Other politicians have been compared to Winnie-the-Pooh characters alongside Xi, including Barack Obama as Tigger, Carrie Lam, Rodrigo Duterte,^[88] and Peng Liyuan as Piglet,^[89] and Fernando Chui and Shinzo Abe as Eeyore.^[90]

Pooh’s Chinese name (Chinese: 小熊维尼; lit. ‘little bear Winnie’) has been censored from video games such as World of Warcraft, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Arena of Valor,^[91] and Devotion.^[92] Images of Pooh in Kingdom Hearts III were also blurred out on the gaming site A9VG.^[93]

Despite the ban, two Pooh-themed rides still operate in Disneyland Shanghai, and it is also legal to purchase Pooh-bear merchandise and books about Winnie the Pooh in China.^[94][95] In May 2021, a performer dressed up as Winnie-the-Pooh in Shanghai Disneyland was beaten by a child tourist. Mass media in China used the term “Pooh Pooh Bear” (Chinese: 噗噗熊) in reports about this incident because the word “Winnie” has been censored. However, search results of “Pooh Pooh Bear hurt in Shanghai Disneyland” were censored on Weibo after this incident happened.^[96][97]

In October 2019, Pooh was featured in the South Park episode «Band in China» because of his alleged resemblance with Xi. In the episode, Pooh is brutally killed by Randy Marsh. South Park was banned in China as a result of the episode.^[98][99]

References

External links

Winnie-the-Pooh public domain audiobook at LibriVox

• Winnie-the-Pooh at Curlie
• The original bear, with A. A. and Christopher Robin Milne, at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• The real locations, from the Ashdown Forest Conservators
• Winnie-the-Pooh at the New York Public Library
• «Winnie the Pooh saga turns 100 years old», CBC News, 24 August 2014.
• «The skull of the ‘real’ Winnie goes on display», BBC News, 20 November 2015.

Edward Sanders the Winnie-the-Pooh «Teddy» Ted Bear is a yellow anthropomorphic teddy Bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard and is the protagonist of the series. He lives under the name «Sanders» in a house located in the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh’s not (as he himself freely admits) very intelligent, but does have good ideas sometimes. Unfortunately, he has a great difficulty communicating these to others. And he’s also known as well-behaved, imaginative, nice, nurturing, idealistic, even-tempered, thoughtful, happy, eager, protective, optimistic, outgoing, heroic, patient, oblivious, outspoken, helpful, benevolent, empathetic, affectionate, respectful, encouraging, dependable, warm-hearted, assertive, relaxed, daring, whimsical, impulsive, naive, no-nonsense, ignorant, educated, docile, trustworthy, hedonistic, exuberant, dreamy, positive, observant, open-minded, honest, brave, endearing, artistic, righteous, persistent, organized, obsequious, and honorable. He speaks a Soft Anglicized American with a Soft Anglicized American accent.

Pooh loves honey more than anything else and he loves to recite poems in hums really softly. He hums “hum dee dum dee doo dum dum” really softly while walking. He laughs with his lips closed and his laugh sounds like hums. He’s the main character in the books and the series and his two closest friends seem to be Piglet, and Christopher Robin, though he is also close friends with: Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga and Roo. In Disney adaptations: Gopher, Kessie, Lumpy, Junior Heffalump, Mama Heffalump, Papa Heffalump, Dexter, Wooster Madeline Robin, Evelyn Robin and in the My Friends Tigger & Pooh TV series: Darby and her dog Buster, Porcupine, Turtle, Beaver, Holly, Raccoon and Skunk.

Pooh’s birthday is generally believed to be in August 21st (however, this goes against the episode «The Wise Have It» which happens in the spring), the same day as Christopher Robin Milne. That is because Christopher Robin Milne received his bear as a birthday gift, and this bear eventually inspired his father to create the character we’ve all come to love. However, it’s nice to note that following the same logic Eeyore’s birthday would be on Christmas Day and we happen to know that it’s not.

The hyphens in Winnie the Pooh’s name were part of the original storybooks, but were dropped by Disney and today the character is referred to almost exclusively without the hyphens and quite often as simply «Pooh» or «Pooh Bear».

History

A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, on whom the character Christopher Robin was based. The rest of Christopher Milne’s toys – Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger – were incorporated into Milne’s stories. Two more characters, Owl and Rabbit, were created by Milne’s imagination, while Gopher was added to the Disney version. Christopher Robin’s toy bear is on display at the Main Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City.

Christopher Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and Pooh, a swan they had encountered while on holiday. The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for C$20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River, Ontario, while en route to England during the First World War. He named the bear Winnie after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnie was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much-loved attraction there. Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.

In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne offers this explanation of why Winnie-the-Pooh is often called simply «Pooh»:

But his arms were so stiff … they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh.

American writer William Safire surmised that the Milnes’ invention of the name «Winnie the Pooh» may have also been influenced by the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado (1885).

Christopher Robin’s teddy bear made his character début, under the name Edward, in A. A. Milne’s poem, «Teddy Bear», in the edition of 13 February 1924 of Punch (E. H. Shepard had also included a similar bear in a cartoon published in Punch the previous week), and the same poem was published in Milne’s book of children’s verse When We Were Very Young (6 November 1924). Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name on 24 December 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London newspaper Evening News. It was illustrated by J. H. Dowd.

The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book Winnie-the-Pooh. The Evening News Christmas story reappeared as the first chapter of the book. At the beginning, it explained that Pooh was in fact Christopher Robin’s Edward Bear, who had been renamed by the boy. He was renamed after an American black bear at London Zoo called Winnie who got her name from the fact that her owner had come from Winnipeg, Canada. The book was published in October 1926 by the publisher of Milne’s earlier children’s work, Methuen, in England, E. P. Dutton in the United States, and McClelland & Stewart in Canada.

In the classic books

In the Milne books, Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he is «a bear of very little brain,» Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. These include riding in Christopher Robin’s umbrella to rescue Piglet from a flood, discovering «the North Pole» by picking it up to help fish Roo out of the river, inventing the game of Poohsticks, and getting Eeyore out of the river by dropping a large rock on one side of him to wash him towards the bank.

Pooh is also a talented poet and the stories are frequently punctuated by his poems and «hums». Although he is humble about his slow-wittedness, he is comfortable with his creative gifts. When Owl’s house blows down in a windstorm, trapping Pooh, Piglet and Owl inside, Pooh encourages Piglet (the only one small enough to do so) to escape and rescue them all by promising that «a respectful Pooh song» will be written about Piglet’s feat. Later, Pooh muses about the creative process as he composes the song.

Pooh is very fond of food, particularly «hunny», but also condensed milk and other items. When he visits friends, his desire to be offered a snack is in conflict with the impoliteness of asking too directly. Though intent on giving Eeyore a pot of honey for his birthday, Pooh could not resist eating it on his way to deliver the present and so instead gives Eeyore «a useful pot to put things in». When he and Piglet are lost in the forest during Rabbit’s attempt to «unbounce» Tigger, Pooh finds his way home by following the «call» of the honeypots from his house. Pooh makes it a habit to have «a little something» around 11:00 in the morning. As Winnie-the-Pooh-coo stops at five minutes to eleven, any time can be Pooh’s snack time.

Pooh is very social. After Christopher Robin, his closest friend is Piglet, and he most often chooses to spend his time with one or both of them. But he also habitually visits the other animals, often looking for a snack or an audience for his poetry as much as for companionship. His kind-heartedness means he goes out of his way to be friendly to Eeyore, visiting him and bringing him a birthday present and building him a house, despite receiving mostly disdain from Eeyore in return.

Stephen Slesinger

On 6 January 1930, Stephen Slesinger purchased US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording, and other trade rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works from Milne for a $1,000 advance and 66% of Slesinger’s income, creating the modern licensing industry. By November 1931, Pooh was a $50 million-a-year business. Slesinger marketed Pooh and his friends for more than 30 years, creating the first Pooh doll, record, board game, puzzle, US radio broadcast (on NBC), animation, and motion picture.

Red shirt Pooh

The first time Pooh and his friends appeared in colour was 1932, when he was drawn by Slesinger in his now-familiar red shirt and featured on an RCA Victor picture record. Parker Brothers introduced A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh Game in 1933, again with Pooh in his red shirt. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in his shirt. Shepard had drawn Pooh with a shirt as early as the first book Winnie-the-Pooh, which was subsequently coloured red in later coloured editions.

Disney adaptations

After Slesinger’s death in 1953, his wife, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, continued developing the character herself. In 1961, she licensed rights to Walt Disney Productions in exchange for royalties in the first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and Disney. The same year, A. A. Milne’s widow, Daphne Milne, also licensed certain rights, including motion picture rights, to Disney. Since 1966, Disney has released numerous animated productions starring its version of Winnie the Pooh and related characters, starting with the theatrical featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.

Pooh was originally voiced by Sterling Holloway, who provided his voice in the three original Pooh short films, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a 1970s Canadian Nabisco Golden Honeys cereal commercial, and the song «Winnie the Pooh for President». Hal Smith took over the role for Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons in 1981, and reprises the role in Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore and Welcome to Pooh Corner. Jim Cummings began voicing Pooh in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Book of Pooh, and Disney Channel’s My Friends Tigger & Pooh and has provided the character’s voice ever since.

Background

Pooh is stuffed with fluff, and is therefore impervious to pain. Due to his obesity, his seams rip open on occasion, but Pooh has become so accustomed to this that he can tie it back together in seconds. Pooh’s tree house, which is under the name «Sanders», is mostly filled with jars and jars of honey, which he harvests from beehives throughout the day.

At the jingle of Pooh-coo, Pooh typically starts his mornings with his «stoutness exercise», which is an ironic attempt to gain weight, rather than lose it. When not collecting honey or pondering about nothing in his Thoughtful Spot, Pooh spends his day with his friends, the most significant of which being Christopher Robin, with whom he shares a special bond.

Personality

Pooh is described as being «a bear of very little brain.» He is generally kind and friendly towards everyone and has a demeanor that is childlike and innocent. Because of his limited intelligence, however, Pooh is extremely naive. Absent-minded and simple, he tends to process things at a slower pace than his friends, to the point of seeming disoriented. Pooh’s sluggish nature also makes him somewhat passive in most situations.

Pooh is arguably best known for his love of honey (or «hunny» as he spells it). He keeps a supply of pots at his home, but they are often empty due to his unending appetite. When he runs out, he often travels to Rabbit’s house to borrow some. Loyal to his friends and the «favored» toy of Christopher Robin, Pooh is often entitled to «leader of the group». He has a knack for being very optimistic during times of despair. He can be very courageous in tough times and is usually the one consulted when trouble occurs.

In spite of being «a bear of very little brain», Pooh occasionally seems to hold some wisdom, such as in Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, in which he’s the first one (aside from Kanga and Roo) to realize that the «monster» all feared was a mother looking for her baby, and though most of Christopher Robin, such as when he constantly asks if Christopher’s work is as important as the latter claims to be, and when he helps Madeline realize the meaning of fun and how much she means to her father. As his best friend states in Christopher Robin, his wisdom is because Pooh is «a bear of very big heart».

Description

He has black eyes and a brown nose. He wears a red shirt (originally just for winter use in the books) with his sleeves all rolled up and transformed into short sleeves and has a yellow coat of fur. It’s shown he has black stitches in his bottom. Other clothes he owns include a white pajama shirt with a violet cap, as well as a grey raincoat with a matching hat.

Disney Parks

Pooh is a common character in the Disney Parks and the most common in the Winnie the Pooh franchise. He is also usually seen with Tigger and Eeyore, and occasionally Piglet, and is located in Fantasyland. Pooh is also the most requested character in Disney Parks, second only to Mickey Mouse himself.

In the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom attraction, Pooh has his own spell card known as «Winnie the Pooh’s Honey Bees.» Pooh also has his own show in Disneyland Paris, called «Winnie the Pooh and Friends, too!.» In the same park, Pooh takes part on his own float in Disney Magic on Parade.

In the 2015 rendition of World of Color, Pooh made a cameo appearance during the opening sequence, in honor of Walt Disney.

In several Disney theme parks, most notably Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, Pooh is the star of his own dark ride titled The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as an audio-animatronic.

Disneyland Resort

In the 2015 rendition of World of Color, Pooh made a cameo appearance during the opening sequence, in honor of Walt Disney, as well as Disneyland Forever.

Walt Disney World

For meet-and-greets, Pooh is often found in the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney’s Animal Kingdom with Tigger.

In the Magic Kingdom’s Once Upon a Time, Pooh stars in his own segment where he performs «Rumbly in My Tumbly» (with additional clips from «Everything is Honey»). He is later seen being harassed by the combined menace of Heffalumps, Woozles, and Pink Elephants.

Pooh also has his own spell card known as «Winnie the Pooh’s Honey Bees» in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

Tokyo Disney Resort

Pooh is the star of his own dark ride titled Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, located in most Tokyo Disneyland. He also appears in the park’s version of Once Upon a Time.

Disneyland Paris

In Disneyland Paris, Pooh stars in Winnie the Pooh and Friends, too!. In the same park, Pooh took part in Disney Magic on Parade, on his own float.

Hong Kong Disneyland

In the Flights of Fantasy Parade, Pooh appeared as the central character from his film seen inside a honeypot hot air balloon with the face of a Heffalump.

Simple Words

«My thoughts get muddled and quite befuddled till I stick to words of one syllable or less«

—Pooh in «Keep it Simple»Pooh’s a bear of very little brain and so he likes to use simple words to express his thoughts and needs others to use them to, or else he gets confused. In his words in The Tao of Pooh, «I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me.» Language and words have always been a concern for Pooh and were a key focus of the series The Book of Pooh. Pooh often finds the mode of his friends’ speech hard to follow, including Owl, who uses many large, scholarly words and Rabbit, who likes to use his words for bossing. There is also Tigger, a malaproper who often uses words that aren’t even really words at all. Though Pooh claims to be a bear of very little brain, Christopher Robin tells him that «You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.»

Appearances

Short films

• Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
• Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
• Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974)
• Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983)

TV series

• Welcome to Pooh Corner (1983-1986)
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-1995)
  • On January 17, 1988, Jim Cummings voiced Winnie the Pooh, for the first time.
• The Simpsons (2003) episode The Fat and the Furriest — non-talking cameo
• House of Mouse (2001-2003) — Jim Cummings
• The Book of Pooh (2001-2003) — Jim Cummings
• My Friends Tigger & Pooh (2007-2010) — Jim Cummings
• Doc McStuffins (2017) (guest appearance) — Jim Cummings
• Monsters at Work (2021) (brief cameo) — Jim Cummings

TV specials

• Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too (1991)
• Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh (1996)
• A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving (1998)
• Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (1999)

Films

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
• Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997)
• Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999)
• The Tigger Movie (2000)
• The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart (2001)
• Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001) — Jim Cummings
• Mickey’s House of Villains (2002) — Jim Cummings
• Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year (2002)
• Piglet’s Big Movie (2003)
• Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (2004)
• Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005)
• Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005)
• Pooh’s Super Sleuth Christmas Movie (2007)
• Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too (2009)
• Super Duper Super Sleuths (2010)
• Winnie the Pooh (2011)
• Christopher Robin (2018)

Educational Films

• Back to School with Winnie the Pooh (1979)
• Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons — 1981
• Good Citizenship with Winnie the Pooh (1985)
• Winnie the Pooh: ABC’s — 2004
• Winnie the Pooh: 123’s — 2004
• Winnie the Pooh: Shapes and Sizes — 2006
• Winnie the Pooh: Wonderful Word Adventure -2006

Non-Disney film

• Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) — Jim Cummings
• Bee Movie (2007) (cameo)

Sing-Along Songs

• Sing a Song with Pooh Bear / and Piglet Too
• Sing a Song with Tigger

Video Games

• Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood (1986)
• Disney’s Animated Storybook: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1995)
• Ready to Read with Pooh (1997)
• Disney’s Animated Storybook: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1999)
• Winnie the Pooh: Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood (2000)
• Tigger’s Honey Hunt (2000)
• Party Time with Winnie the Pooh (2001)
• Kingdom Hearts (2002 onwards)
• Piglet’s Big Game (2003)
• Winnie the Pooh’s Rumbly Tumbly Adventure (2005)
• Disney Friends (2007)
• Winnie the Pooh’s Home Run Derby (2007)

Songs

Songs by Winnie the Pooh include:

• Everything Is Right (Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin)
• Forever and Ever (Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin)
• Adventure (Over the Hill, episode of The Book of Pooh)
• The Floating Song (The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode Balloonatics)
• Pooh’s Lullabee (The Tigger Movie)
• Rumbly in My Tumbly (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
• Up, Down and Touch the Ground (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
• Wherever You Are (Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin)
• Little Black Rain Cloud (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree)
• A Rather Blustery Day (Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day)
• My Song (Sing a Song with Pooh Bear)

Other adaptations

Theatre

• 1931. Winnie-the-Pooh at the Guild Theater, Sue Hastings Marionettes
• 1957. Winnie-the-Pooh, a play in three acts, dramatized by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1964. Winnie-the-Pooh, a musical comedy in two acts, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, music by Allan Jay Friedman, book by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1977. A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, in which Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends help Eeyore have a very Merry Christmas (or a very happy birthday), with the book, music, and lyrics by James W. Rogers, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1986. Bother! The Brain of Pooh, Peter Dennis
• 1992. Winnie-the-Pooh, small cast musical version, dramatized by le Clanché du Rand, music by Allan Jay Friedman, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, additional lyrics by le Clanché du Rand, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 2021. Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation.

Audio

Selected Pooh stories read by Maurice Evans released on vinyl LP:

• 1956. Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Introducing Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin»; «Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place»; and «Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle»)
• More Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Eeyore Loses a Tail»; «Piglet Meets a Heffalump»; «Eeyore Has a Birthday»)

In 1951, RCA Records released four stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, narrated by Jimmy Stewart and featuring the voices of Cecil Roy as Pooh, Madeleine Pierce as Piglet, Betty Jane Tyler as Kanga, Merrill Joels as Eeyore, Arnold Stang as Rabbit, Frank Milano as Owl, and Sandy Fussell as Christopher Robin.

In 1960, HMV recorded a dramatised version with songs (music by Harold Fraser-Simson) of two episodes from The House at Pooh Corner (Chapters 2 and 8), starring Ian Carmichael as Pooh, Denise Bryer as Christopher Robin (who also narrated), Hugh Lloyd as Tigger, Penny Morrell as Piglet, and Terry Norris as Eeyore. This was released on a 45 rpm EP.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Carol Channing recorded Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner and The Winnie the Pooh Songbook, with music by Don Heckman. These were released on vinyl LP and audio cassette by Caedmon Records.

Unabridged recordings read by Peter Dennis of the four Pooh books:

• When We Were Very Young
• Winnie-the-Pooh
• Now We Are Six
• The House at Pooh Corner

In 1979, a double audio cassette set of Winnie the Pooh was produced featuring British actor Lionel Jeffries reading all of the characters in the stories. This was followed in 1981 by an audio cassette set of stories from The House at Pooh Corner also read by Lionel Jeffries.

In the 1990s, the stories were dramatised for audio by David Benedictus, with music composed, directed and played by John Gould. They were performed by a cast that included Stephen Fry as Winnie-the-Pooh, Jane Horrocks as Piglet, Geoffrey Palmer as Eeyore, Judi Dench as Kanga, Finty Williams as Roo, Robert Daws as Rabbit, Michael Williams as Owl, Steven Webb as Christopher Robin and Sandi Toksvig as Tigger.

Radio

• The BBC has included readings of Winnie-the-Pooh stories in its programmes for children since very soon after their first publication. One of the earliest of such readings, by «Uncle Peter» (C. E. Hodges), was an item in the programme For the Children, broadcast by stations 2LO and 5XX on 23 March 1926. Norman Shelley was the notable voice of Pooh on the BBC’s Children’s Hour.
• Pooh made his US radio debut on 10 November 1932, when he was broadcast to 40,000 schools by The American School of the Air, the educational division of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Film

2017: Goodbye Christopher Robin, a British drama film exploring the creation of Winnie-the-Pooh with Domhnall Gleeson playing A.A. Milne.

Soviet adaptation

In the Soviet Union, three Winnie-the-Pooh, (transcribed in Russian as Винни-Пух, Vinni Pukh) stories were made into a celebrated trilogy of short films by Soyuzmultfilm (directed by Fyodor Khitruk) from 1969 to 1972, after being granted permission by Disney to make their own adaptation in a gesture of Cold War détente.

• 1969. Winnie-the-Pooh (Винни-Пух) – based on chapter 1
• 1971. Winnie-the-Pooh Pays a Visit (Винни-Пух идёт в гости) – based on chapter 2
• 1972. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (Винни-Пух и день забот) – based on chapters 4 and 6.

The films used Boris Zakhoder’s translation of the book. Pooh was voiced by Yevgeny Leonov. Unlike in the Disney adaptations, the animators did not base their depictions of the characters on Shepard’s illustrations, instead creating a different look. The Soviet adaptations made extensive use of Milne’s original text and often bring out aspects of Milne’s characters’ personalities not used in the Disney adaptations.

Television

1952: BBC Television’s puppet show.

1960: Shirley Temple’s Storybook on NBC: Winnie-the-Pooh– a version for marionettes, designed, made, and operated by Bil and Cora Baird. Pooh was voiced by Franz Fazakas.

• During the 1970s, the BBC children’s television show Jackanory serialized the two books, which were read by Willie Rushton.

Cultural legacy

One of the best known characters in British children’s literature, a 2011 poll saw Winnie the Pooh voted onto the list of top 100 «icons of England». Forbes magazine ranked Pooh the most valuable fictional character in 2002, with merchandising products alone generating more than $5.9 billion that year. In 2005, Pooh generated $6 billion, a figure surpassed by only Mickey Mouse. In 2006, Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the 80th birthday of Milne’s creation. The bear is such a popular character in Poland that a Warsaw street is named for him (Ulica Kubusia Puchatka). There is also a street named after him in Budapest, Hungary (Micimackó utca).

Winnie the Pooh has inspired multiple texts to explain complex philosophical ideas. Benjamin Hoff uses Milne’s characters in The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet to explain Taoism. Similarly, Frederick Crews wrote essays about the Pooh books in abstruse academic jargon in The Pooh Perplex and Postmodern Pooh to satirise a range of philosophical approaches. Pooh and the Philosophers by John T. Williams uses Winnie the Pooh as a backdrop to illustrate the works of philosophers, including Descartes, Kant, Plato and Nietzsche. «Epic Pooh» is a 1978 essay by Michael Moorcock that compares much fantasy writing to A. A. Milne’s, as work intended to comfort, not challenge.

In music, Kenny Loggins wrote the song «House at Pooh Corner», which was originally recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Loggins later rewrote the song as «Return to Pooh Corner«, featuring on the album of the same name in 1991. In Italy, a pop band took their name from Winnie, and were titled Pooh. In Estonia, there is a punk/metal band called Winny Puhh.

In the «sport» of Poohsticks, competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first. Though it began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner and later in the films, it has crossed over into the real world: a World Championship Poohsticks race takes place in Oxfordshire each year. Ashdown Forest in England where the Pooh stories are set is a popular tourist attraction, and includes the wooden Pooh Bridge where Pooh and Piglet invented Poohsticks. The Oxford University Winnie the Pooh Society was founded by undergraduates in 1982.

From December 2017 to April 2018, the Victoria and Albert Museum hosted the exhibition Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic. On exhibit were teddy bears that had not been on display for some 40 years because they were so fragile.

The Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu regards Pooh as his lucky charm. He is usually seen with a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh during his figure skating competitions. Because of this, Hanyu’s fans will throw stuffed Winnie-the-Poohs onto the ice after his performance. After one of Hanyu’s performances at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, one spectator remarked that «the ice turned yellow» because of all the Poohs thrown onto the ice.

Censorship in China

In the People’s Republic of China, images of Pooh were censored from social media websites in mid-2017, when Internet memes comparing Chinese Paramount Leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping to (Disney’s version of) Pooh became popular. The 2018 film Christopher Robin was also denied a Chinese release.

When Xi visited the Philippines, protestors posted images of Pooh on social media. Other politicians have been compared to Winnie-the-Pooh characters alongside Xi, including Barack Obama as Tigger, Carrie Lam, Rodrigo Duterte, and Peng Liyuan as Piglet, and Fernando Chui and Shinzo Abe as Eeyore.

Pooh’s Chinese name (Chinese: 小熊维尼; lit. ‘little bear Winnie’) has been censored from video games such as World of Warcraft, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Arena of Valor, and Devotion. Images of Pooh in Kingdom Hearts III were also blurred out on the gaming site A9VG.

Despite the ban, two Pooh-themed rides appear in Disneyland Shanghai.

In October 2019, Pooh was featured in the South Park episode «Band in China» because of his alleged resemblance with Xi. In the episode, Pooh is brutally killed by Randy Marsh. South Park was banned in China as a result of the episode.

Internationally

• In Arabic, Winnie the Pooh’s known as ويني الدبدوب or Winnie El Dabdoob in English letters, which means Winnie the Teddy Bear, his first voice actor was Sameh El-Agha, he only played Pooh in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. After that, all other Winnie the Pooh appearances was played by Nayer Naguil.
• In Brazil, Pooh’s name used to be Ursinho-Puff (which translates as «Teddy-Puff»), but was changed to Ursinho-Pooh (which translates as «Teddy-Pooh») starting with the Brazilian dub of The Tigger Movie to make it more similar to the original name. In the Brazilian dub, Pooh’s voice is performed by Marcelo Coutinho and later.
• In Flanders (Belgium) Winnie the Pooh’s stylized as Winnie de Poeh.
• In France, Pooh’s known as Winnie L’ourson and is voiced by notable voice actor Roger Carel.
• In Italy, the character’s still referred to as Winnie-gli-Pooh or Winnie-Pooh (and sometimes spelled as Winnie Puh). Pooh is voiced by Marco Bresciani in the Italian dubs.
• In Japan, Pooh is known as クマのプーさん (Kuma no pū-san) (which translates as «Mr. Pooh Bear») and his voice is provided by Sukekiyo Kameyama.
• In Denmark, Pooh’s known as Peter-Plys (which translates as «Peter-Plush») and he was originally voiced by John Hahn-Petersen, currently he’s voiced by Donald Andersen in the Danish dub.
• In Finland, Pooh is known as Nalle-Puh (which translates as «Teddy-Bear-Pooh»), and his voiced by Jarmo Koski.
• In Sweden, Pooh is known as Nalle-Puh (which translates as «Teddy-Puh»), and he was originally voiced by Tor Isedal in the short films, and Olli Markenros until Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin. Pooh’s currently voiced by Guy De la Berg in the Swedish dub.
• In Germany, Pooh was originally known as Pu-der-Bär (which translates as «Pu-the-Bear»), but in the Disney adaptions he’s known as Winnie(-die-)Puuh. Pooh’s voiced by Michael Rüth in the German dubs.
• In Hungary, Pooh’s known as Micimackó and his voice is provided by Mikó István.
• In Spain, Pooh’s known as Winnie Pooh.
• In Greece, Pooh’s known as Γουίνι το Αρκουδάκι (Gouíni to Arkoudáki).
• In Norway, Pooh’s known as Ole Brumm, and he is voiced by Ivar Nørve (who also dubbed Eeyore until in some episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.) in the Norwegian dub.
• In Poland, Pooh’s known as Kubuś Puchatek (other little-known translations of his name are Miś Puh-Niedźwiedzki or Fredzia Phi-Phi). He was voiced in Polish dubs by Jan Kociniak in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pooh’s Grand Adventure, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue and The Tigger Movie, Jan Prochyra (the same actor of Eeyore) in the first dub of Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too and currently he is voiced by Maciej Kujawski in all other productions.
• In Czech Republic, Pooh’s known as Medvídek Pú.

Trivia

• Winnie the Pooh’s name was inspired by a bear named Winnipeg and a swan named Pooh.
• In a 1984 comic strip by Don Ferguson, Winnie the Pooh mentions having a grandfather and a cousin named Herkimer, both of whom sneezed every day at two o’clock, a habit Pooh inherited.
• The largest collection of Winnie the Pooh memorabilia consists of 20,000 items, and was achieved by Deb Hoffmann in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the United States of America, as verified on 20 December 2020. Deb started her collection in 1967 and officially broke the Guinness World Records title in 2009 with 4,405 items. Since then, she has continued to grow her collection and update her impressive record.
• In 2002, TV Guide compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of the magazine’s 50th anniversary. Winnie the Pooh was given the honor of number 27.
• On April 11, 2006, Pooh was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, being the fourth Disney character to receive one after Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Donald Duck. The star is located on 6834 Hollywood Blvd.

Gallery

Edward Sanders the Winnie-the-Pooh «Teddy» Ted Bear is a yellow anthropomorphic teddy Bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard and is the protagonist of the series. He lives under the name «Sanders» in a house located in the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh’s not (as he himself freely admits) very intelligent, but does have good ideas sometimes. Unfortunately, he has a great difficulty communicating these to others. And he’s also known as well-behaved, imaginative, nice, nurturing, idealistic, even-tempered, thoughtful, happy, eager, protective, optimistic, outgoing, heroic, patient, oblivious, outspoken, helpful, benevolent, empathetic, affectionate, respectful, encouraging, dependable, warm-hearted, assertive, relaxed, daring, whimsical, impulsive, naive, no-nonsense, ignorant, educated, docile, trustworthy, hedonistic, exuberant, dreamy, positive, observant, open-minded, honest, brave, endearing, artistic, righteous, persistent, organized, obsequious, and honorable. He speaks a Soft Anglicized American with a Soft Anglicized American accent.

Pooh loves honey more than anything else and he loves to recite poems in hums really softly. He hums “hum dee dum dee doo dum dum” really softly while walking. He laughs with his lips closed and his laugh sounds like hums. He’s the main character in the books and the series and his two closest friends seem to be Piglet, and Christopher Robin, though he is also close friends with: Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga and Roo. In Disney adaptations: Gopher, Kessie, Lumpy, Junior Heffalump, Mama Heffalump, Papa Heffalump, Dexter, Wooster Madeline Robin, Evelyn Robin and in the My Friends Tigger & Pooh TV series: Darby and her dog Buster, Porcupine, Turtle, Beaver, Holly, Raccoon and Skunk.

Pooh’s birthday is generally believed to be in August 21st (however, this goes against the episode «The Wise Have It» which happens in the spring), the same day as Christopher Robin Milne. That is because Christopher Robin Milne received his bear as a birthday gift, and this bear eventually inspired his father to create the character we’ve all come to love. However, it’s nice to note that following the same logic Eeyore’s birthday would be on Christmas Day and we happen to know that it’s not.

The hyphens in Winnie the Pooh’s name were part of the original storybooks, but were dropped by Disney and today the character is referred to almost exclusively without the hyphens and quite often as simply «Pooh» or «Pooh Bear».

History

A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, on whom the character Christopher Robin was based. The rest of Christopher Milne’s toys – Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger – were incorporated into Milne’s stories. Two more characters, Owl and Rabbit, were created by Milne’s imagination, while Gopher was added to the Disney version. Christopher Robin’s toy bear is on display at the Main Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City.

Christopher Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and Pooh, a swan they had encountered while on holiday. The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for C$20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River, Ontario, while en route to England during the First World War. He named the bear Winnie after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnie was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much-loved attraction there. Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.

In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne offers this explanation of why Winnie-the-Pooh is often called simply «Pooh»:

But his arms were so stiff … they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh.

American writer William Safire surmised that the Milnes’ invention of the name «Winnie the Pooh» may have also been influenced by the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado (1885).

Christopher Robin’s teddy bear made his character début, under the name Edward, in A. A. Milne’s poem, «Teddy Bear», in the edition of 13 February 1924 of Punch (E. H. Shepard had also included a similar bear in a cartoon published in Punch the previous week), and the same poem was published in Milne’s book of children’s verse When We Were Very Young (6 November 1924). Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name on 24 December 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London newspaper Evening News. It was illustrated by J. H. Dowd.

The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book Winnie-the-Pooh. The Evening News Christmas story reappeared as the first chapter of the book. At the beginning, it explained that Pooh was in fact Christopher Robin’s Edward Bear, who had been renamed by the boy. He was renamed after an American black bear at London Zoo called Winnie who got her name from the fact that her owner had come from Winnipeg, Canada. The book was published in October 1926 by the publisher of Milne’s earlier children’s work, Methuen, in England, E. P. Dutton in the United States, and McClelland & Stewart in Canada.

In the classic books

In the Milne books, Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he is «a bear of very little brain,» Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. These include riding in Christopher Robin’s umbrella to rescue Piglet from a flood, discovering «the North Pole» by picking it up to help fish Roo out of the river, inventing the game of Poohsticks, and getting Eeyore out of the river by dropping a large rock on one side of him to wash him towards the bank.

Pooh is also a talented poet and the stories are frequently punctuated by his poems and «hums». Although he is humble about his slow-wittedness, he is comfortable with his creative gifts. When Owl’s house blows down in a windstorm, trapping Pooh, Piglet and Owl inside, Pooh encourages Piglet (the only one small enough to do so) to escape and rescue them all by promising that «a respectful Pooh song» will be written about Piglet’s feat. Later, Pooh muses about the creative process as he composes the song.

Pooh is very fond of food, particularly «hunny», but also condensed milk and other items. When he visits friends, his desire to be offered a snack is in conflict with the impoliteness of asking too directly. Though intent on giving Eeyore a pot of honey for his birthday, Pooh could not resist eating it on his way to deliver the present and so instead gives Eeyore «a useful pot to put things in». When he and Piglet are lost in the forest during Rabbit’s attempt to «unbounce» Tigger, Pooh finds his way home by following the «call» of the honeypots from his house. Pooh makes it a habit to have «a little something» around 11:00 in the morning. As Winnie-the-Pooh-coo stops at five minutes to eleven, any time can be Pooh’s snack time.

Pooh is very social. After Christopher Robin, his closest friend is Piglet, and he most often chooses to spend his time with one or both of them. But he also habitually visits the other animals, often looking for a snack or an audience for his poetry as much as for companionship. His kind-heartedness means he goes out of his way to be friendly to Eeyore, visiting him and bringing him a birthday present and building him a house, despite receiving mostly disdain from Eeyore in return.

Stephen Slesinger

On 6 January 1930, Stephen Slesinger purchased US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording, and other trade rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works from Milne for a $1,000 advance and 66% of Slesinger’s income, creating the modern licensing industry. By November 1931, Pooh was a $50 million-a-year business. Slesinger marketed Pooh and his friends for more than 30 years, creating the first Pooh doll, record, board game, puzzle, US radio broadcast (on NBC), animation, and motion picture.

Red shirt Pooh

The first time Pooh and his friends appeared in colour was 1932, when he was drawn by Slesinger in his now-familiar red shirt and featured on an RCA Victor picture record. Parker Brothers introduced A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh Game in 1933, again with Pooh in his red shirt. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in his shirt. Shepard had drawn Pooh with a shirt as early as the first book Winnie-the-Pooh, which was subsequently coloured red in later coloured editions.

Disney adaptations

After Slesinger’s death in 1953, his wife, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, continued developing the character herself. In 1961, she licensed rights to Walt Disney Productions in exchange for royalties in the first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and Disney. The same year, A. A. Milne’s widow, Daphne Milne, also licensed certain rights, including motion picture rights, to Disney. Since 1966, Disney has released numerous animated productions starring its version of Winnie the Pooh and related characters, starting with the theatrical featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.

Pooh was originally voiced by Sterling Holloway, who provided his voice in the three original Pooh short films, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a 1970s Canadian Nabisco Golden Honeys cereal commercial, and the song «Winnie the Pooh for President». Hal Smith took over the role for Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons in 1981, and reprises the role in Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore and Welcome to Pooh Corner. Jim Cummings began voicing Pooh in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Book of Pooh, and Disney Channel’s My Friends Tigger & Pooh and has provided the character’s voice ever since.

Background

Pooh is stuffed with fluff, and is therefore impervious to pain. Due to his obesity, his seams rip open on occasion, but Pooh has become so accustomed to this that he can tie it back together in seconds. Pooh’s tree house, which is under the name «Sanders», is mostly filled with jars and jars of honey, which he harvests from beehives throughout the day.

At the jingle of Pooh-coo, Pooh typically starts his mornings with his «stoutness exercise», which is an ironic attempt to gain weight, rather than lose it. When not collecting honey or pondering about nothing in his Thoughtful Spot, Pooh spends his day with his friends, the most significant of which being Christopher Robin, with whom he shares a special bond.

Personality

Pooh is described as being «a bear of very little brain.» He is generally kind and friendly towards everyone and has a demeanor that is childlike and innocent. Because of his limited intelligence, however, Pooh is extremely naive. Absent-minded and simple, he tends to process things at a slower pace than his friends, to the point of seeming disoriented. Pooh’s sluggish nature also makes him somewhat passive in most situations.

Pooh is arguably best known for his love of honey (or «hunny» as he spells it). He keeps a supply of pots at his home, but they are often empty due to his unending appetite. When he runs out, he often travels to Rabbit’s house to borrow some. Loyal to his friends and the «favored» toy of Christopher Robin, Pooh is often entitled to «leader of the group». He has a knack for being very optimistic during times of despair. He can be very courageous in tough times and is usually the one consulted when trouble occurs.

In spite of being «a bear of very little brain», Pooh occasionally seems to hold some wisdom, such as in Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, in which he’s the first one (aside from Kanga and Roo) to realize that the «monster» all feared was a mother looking for her baby, and though most of Christopher Robin, such as when he constantly asks if Christopher’s work is as important as the latter claims to be, and when he helps Madeline realize the meaning of fun and how much she means to her father. As his best friend states in Christopher Robin, his wisdom is because Pooh is «a bear of very big heart».

Description

He has black eyes and a brown nose. He wears a red shirt (originally just for winter use in the books) with his sleeves all rolled up and transformed into short sleeves and has a yellow coat of fur. It’s shown he has black stitches in his bottom. Other clothes he owns include a white pajama shirt with a violet cap, as well as a grey raincoat with a matching hat.

Disney Parks

Pooh is a common character in the Disney Parks and the most common in the Winnie the Pooh franchise. He is also usually seen with Tigger and Eeyore, and occasionally Piglet, and is located in Fantasyland. Pooh is also the most requested character in Disney Parks, second only to Mickey Mouse himself.

In the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom attraction, Pooh has his own spell card known as «Winnie the Pooh’s Honey Bees.» Pooh also has his own show in Disneyland Paris, called «Winnie the Pooh and Friends, too!.» In the same park, Pooh takes part on his own float in Disney Magic on Parade.

In the 2015 rendition of World of Color, Pooh made a cameo appearance during the opening sequence, in honor of Walt Disney.

In several Disney theme parks, most notably Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, Pooh is the star of his own dark ride titled The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as an audio-animatronic.

Disneyland Resort

In the 2015 rendition of World of Color, Pooh made a cameo appearance during the opening sequence, in honor of Walt Disney, as well as Disneyland Forever.

Walt Disney World

For meet-and-greets, Pooh is often found in the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney’s Animal Kingdom with Tigger.

In the Magic Kingdom’s Once Upon a Time, Pooh stars in his own segment where he performs «Rumbly in My Tumbly» (with additional clips from «Everything is Honey»). He is later seen being harassed by the combined menace of Heffalumps, Woozles, and Pink Elephants.

Pooh also has his own spell card known as «Winnie the Pooh’s Honey Bees» in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

Tokyo Disney Resort

Pooh is the star of his own dark ride titled Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, located in most Tokyo Disneyland. He also appears in the park’s version of Once Upon a Time.

Disneyland Paris

In Disneyland Paris, Pooh stars in Winnie the Pooh and Friends, too!. In the same park, Pooh took part in Disney Magic on Parade, on his own float.

Hong Kong Disneyland

In the Flights of Fantasy Parade, Pooh appeared as the central character from his film seen inside a honeypot hot air balloon with the face of a Heffalump.

Simple Words

«My thoughts get muddled and quite befuddled till I stick to words of one syllable or less«

—Pooh in «Keep it Simple»Pooh’s a bear of very little brain and so he likes to use simple words to express his thoughts and needs others to use them to, or else he gets confused. In his words in The Tao of Pooh, «I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me.» Language and words have always been a concern for Pooh and were a key focus of the series The Book of Pooh. Pooh often finds the mode of his friends’ speech hard to follow, including Owl, who uses many large, scholarly words and Rabbit, who likes to use his words for bossing. There is also Tigger, a malaproper who often uses words that aren’t even really words at all. Though Pooh claims to be a bear of very little brain, Christopher Robin tells him that «You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.»

Appearances

Short films

• Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
• Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
• Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974)
• Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983)

TV series

• Welcome to Pooh Corner (1983-1986)
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-1995)
  • On January 17, 1988, Jim Cummings voiced Winnie the Pooh, for the first time.
• The Simpsons (2003) episode The Fat and the Furriest — non-talking cameo
• House of Mouse (2001-2003) — Jim Cummings
• The Book of Pooh (2001-2003) — Jim Cummings
• My Friends Tigger & Pooh (2007-2010) — Jim Cummings
• Doc McStuffins (2017) (guest appearance) — Jim Cummings
• Monsters at Work (2021) (brief cameo) — Jim Cummings

TV specials

• Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too (1991)
• Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh (1996)
• A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving (1998)
• Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (1999)

Films

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
• Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997)
• Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999)
• The Tigger Movie (2000)
• The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart (2001)
• Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001) — Jim Cummings
• Mickey’s House of Villains (2002) — Jim Cummings
• Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year (2002)
• Piglet’s Big Movie (2003)
• Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (2004)
• Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005)
• Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005)
• Pooh’s Super Sleuth Christmas Movie (2007)
• Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too (2009)
• Super Duper Super Sleuths (2010)
• Winnie the Pooh (2011)
• Christopher Robin (2018)

Educational Films

• Back to School with Winnie the Pooh (1979)
• Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons — 1981
• Good Citizenship with Winnie the Pooh (1985)
• Winnie the Pooh: ABC’s — 2004
• Winnie the Pooh: 123’s — 2004
• Winnie the Pooh: Shapes and Sizes — 2006
• Winnie the Pooh: Wonderful Word Adventure -2006

Non-Disney film

• Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) — Jim Cummings
• Bee Movie (2007) (cameo)

Sing-Along Songs

• Sing a Song with Pooh Bear / and Piglet Too
• Sing a Song with Tigger

Video Games

• Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood (1986)
• Disney’s Animated Storybook: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1995)
• Ready to Read with Pooh (1997)
• Disney’s Animated Storybook: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1999)
• Winnie the Pooh: Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood (2000)
• Tigger’s Honey Hunt (2000)
• Party Time with Winnie the Pooh (2001)
• Kingdom Hearts (2002 onwards)
• Piglet’s Big Game (2003)
• Winnie the Pooh’s Rumbly Tumbly Adventure (2005)
• Disney Friends (2007)
• Winnie the Pooh’s Home Run Derby (2007)

Songs

Songs by Winnie the Pooh include:

• Everything Is Right (Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin)
• Forever and Ever (Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin)
• Adventure (Over the Hill, episode of The Book of Pooh)
• The Floating Song (The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode Balloonatics)
• Pooh’s Lullabee (The Tigger Movie)
• Rumbly in My Tumbly (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
• Up, Down and Touch the Ground (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
• Wherever You Are (Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin)
• Little Black Rain Cloud (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree)
• A Rather Blustery Day (Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day)
• My Song (Sing a Song with Pooh Bear)

Other adaptations

Theatre

• 1931. Winnie-the-Pooh at the Guild Theater, Sue Hastings Marionettes
• 1957. Winnie-the-Pooh, a play in three acts, dramatized by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1964. Winnie-the-Pooh, a musical comedy in two acts, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, music by Allan Jay Friedman, book by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1977. A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, in which Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends help Eeyore have a very Merry Christmas (or a very happy birthday), with the book, music, and lyrics by James W. Rogers, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 1986. Bother! The Brain of Pooh, Peter Dennis
• 1992. Winnie-the-Pooh, small cast musical version, dramatized by le Clanché du Rand, music by Allan Jay Friedman, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, additional lyrics by le Clanché du Rand, Dramatic Publishing Company
• 2021. Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation.

Audio

Selected Pooh stories read by Maurice Evans released on vinyl LP:

• 1956. Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Introducing Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin»; «Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place»; and «Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle»)
• More Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: «Eeyore Loses a Tail»; «Piglet Meets a Heffalump»; «Eeyore Has a Birthday»)

In 1951, RCA Records released four stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, narrated by Jimmy Stewart and featuring the voices of Cecil Roy as Pooh, Madeleine Pierce as Piglet, Betty Jane Tyler as Kanga, Merrill Joels as Eeyore, Arnold Stang as Rabbit, Frank Milano as Owl, and Sandy Fussell as Christopher Robin.

In 1960, HMV recorded a dramatised version with songs (music by Harold Fraser-Simson) of two episodes from The House at Pooh Corner (Chapters 2 and 8), starring Ian Carmichael as Pooh, Denise Bryer as Christopher Robin (who also narrated), Hugh Lloyd as Tigger, Penny Morrell as Piglet, and Terry Norris as Eeyore. This was released on a 45 rpm EP.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Carol Channing recorded Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner and The Winnie the Pooh Songbook, with music by Don Heckman. These were released on vinyl LP and audio cassette by Caedmon Records.

Unabridged recordings read by Peter Dennis of the four Pooh books:

• When We Were Very Young
• Winnie-the-Pooh
• Now We Are Six
• The House at Pooh Corner

In 1979, a double audio cassette set of Winnie the Pooh was produced featuring British actor Lionel Jeffries reading all of the characters in the stories. This was followed in 1981 by an audio cassette set of stories from The House at Pooh Corner also read by Lionel Jeffries.

In the 1990s, the stories were dramatised for audio by David Benedictus, with music composed, directed and played by John Gould. They were performed by a cast that included Stephen Fry as Winnie-the-Pooh, Jane Horrocks as Piglet, Geoffrey Palmer as Eeyore, Judi Dench as Kanga, Finty Williams as Roo, Robert Daws as Rabbit, Michael Williams as Owl, Steven Webb as Christopher Robin and Sandi Toksvig as Tigger.

Radio

• The BBC has included readings of Winnie-the-Pooh stories in its programmes for children since very soon after their first publication. One of the earliest of such readings, by «Uncle Peter» (C. E. Hodges), was an item in the programme For the Children, broadcast by stations 2LO and 5XX on 23 March 1926. Norman Shelley was the notable voice of Pooh on the BBC’s Children’s Hour.
• Pooh made his US radio debut on 10 November 1932, when he was broadcast to 40,000 schools by The American School of the Air, the educational division of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Film

2017: Goodbye Christopher Robin, a British drama film exploring the creation of Winnie-the-Pooh with Domhnall Gleeson playing A.A. Milne.

Soviet adaptation

In the Soviet Union, three Winnie-the-Pooh, (transcribed in Russian as Винни-Пух, Vinni Pukh) stories were made into a celebrated trilogy of short films by Soyuzmultfilm (directed by Fyodor Khitruk) from 1969 to 1972, after being granted permission by Disney to make their own adaptation in a gesture of Cold War détente.

• 1969. Winnie-the-Pooh (Винни-Пух) – based on chapter 1
• 1971. Winnie-the-Pooh Pays a Visit (Винни-Пух идёт в гости) – based on chapter 2
• 1972. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (Винни-Пух и день забот) – based on chapters 4 and 6.

The films used Boris Zakhoder’s translation of the book. Pooh was voiced by Yevgeny Leonov. Unlike in the Disney adaptations, the animators did not base their depictions of the characters on Shepard’s illustrations, instead creating a different look. The Soviet adaptations made extensive use of Milne’s original text and often bring out aspects of Milne’s characters’ personalities not used in the Disney adaptations.

Television

1952: BBC Television’s puppet show.

1960: Shirley Temple’s Storybook on NBC: Winnie-the-Pooh– a version for marionettes, designed, made, and operated by Bil and Cora Baird. Pooh was voiced by Franz Fazakas.

• During the 1970s, the BBC children’s television show Jackanory serialized the two books, which were read by Willie Rushton.

Cultural legacy

One of the best known characters in British children’s literature, a 2011 poll saw Winnie the Pooh voted onto the list of top 100 «icons of England». Forbes magazine ranked Pooh the most valuable fictional character in 2002, with merchandising products alone generating more than $5.9 billion that year. In 2005, Pooh generated $6 billion, a figure surpassed by only Mickey Mouse. In 2006, Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the 80th birthday of Milne’s creation. The bear is such a popular character in Poland that a Warsaw street is named for him (Ulica Kubusia Puchatka). There is also a street named after him in Budapest, Hungary (Micimackó utca).

Winnie the Pooh has inspired multiple texts to explain complex philosophical ideas. Benjamin Hoff uses Milne’s characters in The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet to explain Taoism. Similarly, Frederick Crews wrote essays about the Pooh books in abstruse academic jargon in The Pooh Perplex and Postmodern Pooh to satirise a range of philosophical approaches. Pooh and the Philosophers by John T. Williams uses Winnie the Pooh as a backdrop to illustrate the works of philosophers, including Descartes, Kant, Plato and Nietzsche. «Epic Pooh» is a 1978 essay by Michael Moorcock that compares much fantasy writing to A. A. Milne’s, as work intended to comfort, not challenge.

In music, Kenny Loggins wrote the song «House at Pooh Corner», which was originally recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Loggins later rewrote the song as «Return to Pooh Corner«, featuring on the album of the same name in 1991. In Italy, a pop band took their name from Winnie, and were titled Pooh. In Estonia, there is a punk/metal band called Winny Puhh.

In the «sport» of Poohsticks, competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first. Though it began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner and later in the films, it has crossed over into the real world: a World Championship Poohsticks race takes place in Oxfordshire each year. Ashdown Forest in England where the Pooh stories are set is a popular tourist attraction, and includes the wooden Pooh Bridge where Pooh and Piglet invented Poohsticks. The Oxford University Winnie the Pooh Society was founded by undergraduates in 1982.

From December 2017 to April 2018, the Victoria and Albert Museum hosted the exhibition Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic. On exhibit were teddy bears that had not been on display for some 40 years because they were so fragile.

The Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu regards Pooh as his lucky charm. He is usually seen with a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh during his figure skating competitions. Because of this, Hanyu’s fans will throw stuffed Winnie-the-Poohs onto the ice after his performance. After one of Hanyu’s performances at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, one spectator remarked that «the ice turned yellow» because of all the Poohs thrown onto the ice.

Censorship in China

In the People’s Republic of China, images of Pooh were censored from social media websites in mid-2017, when Internet memes comparing Chinese Paramount Leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping to (Disney’s version of) Pooh became popular. The 2018 film Christopher Robin was also denied a Chinese release.

When Xi visited the Philippines, protestors posted images of Pooh on social media. Other politicians have been compared to Winnie-the-Pooh characters alongside Xi, including Barack Obama as Tigger, Carrie Lam, Rodrigo Duterte, and Peng Liyuan as Piglet, and Fernando Chui and Shinzo Abe as Eeyore.

Pooh’s Chinese name (Chinese: 小熊维尼; lit. ‘little bear Winnie’) has been censored from video games such as World of Warcraft, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Arena of Valor, and Devotion. Images of Pooh in Kingdom Hearts III were also blurred out on the gaming site A9VG.

Despite the ban, two Pooh-themed rides appear in Disneyland Shanghai.

In October 2019, Pooh was featured in the South Park episode «Band in China» because of his alleged resemblance with Xi. In the episode, Pooh is brutally killed by Randy Marsh. South Park was banned in China as a result of the episode.

Internationally

• In Arabic, Winnie the Pooh’s known as ويني الدبدوب or Winnie El Dabdoob in English letters, which means Winnie the Teddy Bear, his first voice actor was Sameh El-Agha, he only played Pooh in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. After that, all other Winnie the Pooh appearances was played by Nayer Naguil.
• In Brazil, Pooh’s name used to be Ursinho-Puff (which translates as «Teddy-Puff»), but was changed to Ursinho-Pooh (which translates as «Teddy-Pooh») starting with the Brazilian dub of The Tigger Movie to make it more similar to the original name. In the Brazilian dub, Pooh’s voice is performed by Marcelo Coutinho and later.
• In Flanders (Belgium) Winnie the Pooh’s stylized as Winnie de Poeh.
• In France, Pooh’s known as Winnie L’ourson and is voiced by notable voice actor Roger Carel.
• In Italy, the character’s still referred to as Winnie-gli-Pooh or Winnie-Pooh (and sometimes spelled as Winnie Puh). Pooh is voiced by Marco Bresciani in the Italian dubs.
• In Japan, Pooh is known as クマのプーさん (Kuma no pū-san) (which translates as «Mr. Pooh Bear») and his voice is provided by Sukekiyo Kameyama.
• In Denmark, Pooh’s known as Peter-Plys (which translates as «Peter-Plush») and he was originally voiced by John Hahn-Petersen, currently he’s voiced by Donald Andersen in the Danish dub.
• In Finland, Pooh is known as Nalle-Puh (which translates as «Teddy-Bear-Pooh»), and his voiced by Jarmo Koski.
• In Sweden, Pooh is known as Nalle-Puh (which translates as «Teddy-Puh»), and he was originally voiced by Tor Isedal in the short films, and Olli Markenros until Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin. Pooh’s currently voiced by Guy De la Berg in the Swedish dub.
• In Germany, Pooh was originally known as Pu-der-Bär (which translates as «Pu-the-Bear»), but in the Disney adaptions he’s known as Winnie(-die-)Puuh. Pooh’s voiced by Michael Rüth in the German dubs.
• In Hungary, Pooh’s known as Micimackó and his voice is provided by Mikó István.
• In Spain, Pooh’s known as Winnie Pooh.
• In Greece, Pooh’s known as Γουίνι το Αρκουδάκι (Gouíni to Arkoudáki).
• In Norway, Pooh’s known as Ole Brumm, and he is voiced by Ivar Nørve (who also dubbed Eeyore until in some episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.) in the Norwegian dub.
• In Poland, Pooh’s known as Kubuś Puchatek (other little-known translations of his name are Miś Puh-Niedźwiedzki or Fredzia Phi-Phi). He was voiced in Polish dubs by Jan Kociniak in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pooh’s Grand Adventure, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue and The Tigger Movie, Jan Prochyra (the same actor of Eeyore) in the first dub of Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too and currently he is voiced by Maciej Kujawski in all other productions.
• In Czech Republic, Pooh’s known as Medvídek Pú.

Trivia

• Winnie the Pooh’s name was inspired by a bear named Winnipeg and a swan named Pooh.
• In a 1984 comic strip by Don Ferguson, Winnie the Pooh mentions having a grandfather and a cousin named Herkimer, both of whom sneezed every day at two o’clock, a habit Pooh inherited.
• The largest collection of Winnie the Pooh memorabilia consists of 20,000 items, and was achieved by Deb Hoffmann in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the United States of America, as verified on 20 December 2020. Deb started her collection in 1967 and officially broke the Guinness World Records title in 2009 with 4,405 items. Since then, she has continued to grow her collection and update her impressive record.
• In 2002, TV Guide compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of the magazine’s 50th anniversary. Winnie the Pooh was given the honor of number 27.
• On April 11, 2006, Pooh was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, being the fourth Disney character to receive one after Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Donald Duck. The star is located on 6834 Hollywood Blvd.

Gallery