Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100
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The gist
A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" was published Oct. 14, 1926, and now turns 100.
The bear's centenary is marked by a New York Public Library exhibition of rare editions and original stuffed animals.
Background
Winnie-the-Pooh is a collection of stories about a honey-loving bear in the Hundred Acre Wood, a fictional place modelled on Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England. The bear was inspired by a stuffed toy Milne bought for his son Christopher Robin, and by a bear named Winnie the family visited at the London Zoo. The real Winnie began as an orphaned female cub adopted in Canada by Canadian Army Veterinary Corps officer Harry Colebourn, who named her Winnipeg, or Winnie; she became the regiment's mascot and was later placed at the London Zoo, where she was a crowd favourite. Christopher Robin renamed his teddy bear after her, while the name Pooh originally belonged to a swan he visited and fed.
How it unfolded
- Oct 14, 1926The first collection of stories under the title "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne, illustrated by E. H. Shepard, was published.
- 1928The sequel "The House at Pooh Corner" appeared.
- 1989Mark Burgess, from Somerset, began working as one of the illustrators.
- Oct 10, 2026CBS8 reported Winnie the Pooh turns 100 and finds a new home at the New York Public Library.
- Oct 14, 2026CNN, KCRA, The Economist and the BBC reported the book has turned 100 years old, with the New York Public Library hosting an exhibition of rare books, including many first editions of the original Milne texts, and the original stuffed animals.
Who’s saying what
- Illustrator
- Mark Burgess, an illustrator since 1989, said the stories were read to him as a child and that working on them was "a real honour," describing the process as inhabiting the characters to produce lively drawings.
- Author
- Gyles Brandreth, a TV personality and author who was a friend of Christopher Robin Milne, recounted A.A. Milne's account of how the name came about: a swan they could not persuade to be fed was dismissed with "oh, pooh, swan, pooh."