50 Fun Facts About Teddy Bear

The teddy bear is named after which US president?

He loathed the nickname 'Teddy'; the toy took it anyway after a 1902 hunting trip in Mississippi.

Why did the president refuse to shoot the bear on the 1902 Mississippi hunt that gave the toy its name?

His attendants had cornered, clubbed and tied a black bear to a willow tree; a Washington Post cartoon of the scene ran a few days later.

Which cartoonist's 1902 Washington Post drawing of Roosevelt sparing a bear sparked the teddy bear craze?

The bear in the cartoon shrank into a cute cub in later versions, which is more or less what happened to the toy.

What did Morris Michtom sell at the Brooklyn business where he displayed the first 'Teddy's bear'?

The Brooklyn shop was at 404 Tompkins Avenue; Michtom went on to found the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

Which toy company did Morris Michtom found on the back of his teddy bear?

Ideal went on to make Rubik's Cube, Betsy Wetsy and Mr. Machine before being swallowed by CBS Toys in the 1980s.

Richard Steiff's jointed teddy bear was first shown at a toy fair in March 1903 in which German city?

An American buyer promptly ordered 3,000, and the bear craze was on both sides of the Atlantic.

What was Steiff's very first product when Margarete Steiff started the company in 1880?

The seamstress from Giengen sold felt elephants as pincushions; children started playing with them instead.

What trademark did Steiff introduce in 1904 to foil counterfeiters?

The 'Knopf im Ohr' was devised by Margarete's nephew Franz; genuine antique Steiffs are still identified by it.

What is the model designation of Richard Steiff's 1903 bear, the first with movable arms and legs?

55 stood for its height in centimetres, P for plush and B for beweglich, 'jointed'.

Early teddy bears were covered in which fabric, giving them their tawny colour?

They also had long realistic snouts and humps; the cute, flat-faced bear evolved over the following decades.

Which country made the 19-metre teddy bear that set a Guinness size record in 2019?

It was built in Xonacatlan in the State of Mexico and measured 63 feet 8 inches long.

'The Teddy Bears' Picnic' began as a 1907 instrumental by John Walter Bratton. Who added the words in 1932?

The Irish lyricist also wrote 'Red Sails in the Sunset'; Henry Hall's BBC Orchestra recorded the first vocal version the same year.

For more than 30 years BBC engineers used 'The Teddy Bears' Picnic' for what purpose?

Its wide dynamic and frequency range made Henry Hall's 1932 recording a handy calibration tool into the 1960s.

Christopher Robin Milne's teddy bear, the model for Winnie-the-Pooh, was bought at which London store?

Milne bought it in 1921; the original toys have been on display at the New York Public Library since 1987.

Winnie-the-Pooh's 'Winnie' comes from a real black bear at London Zoo. What was she named after?

Lieutenant Harry Colebourn bought the cub for $20 at a train stop in White River, Ontario, in 1914 and left her at the zoo on his way to the Western Front.

Where did the 'Pooh' half of Winnie-the-Pooh's name come from?

The Milnes met the swan on holiday; the bear's stories are set in the Hundred Acre Wood, modelled on Ashdown Forest in Sussex.

Where in London do the Brown family find the bear from darkest Peru?

He is sitting on his suitcase with a note reading 'Please look after this bear. Thank you.', sent from darkest Peru by his Aunt Lucy.

Author Michael Bond was inspired to create Paddington after buying a lonely teddy bear on which occasion?

He bought the last bear on the shelf as a present for his wife; A Bear Called Paddington followed in October 1958.

Which actor voices Paddington in the 2014 film and its sequels?

Colin Firth was originally cast but stepped aside; Bonneville plays Mr Brown and Grant the villain of the second film.

Rupert Bear first appeared in 1920 in which British newspaper?

Mary Tourtel drew him; he lives in Nutwood in a red jumper and yellow checked trousers, and annuals have appeared every year since 1936.

Which former Beatle produced the BAFTA-winning animated short Rupert and the Frog Song?

Its song 'We All Stand Together' reached number three in the UK in 1984.

What is Corduroy, the department-store teddy bear of Don Freeman's 1968 picture book, missing?

A girl named Lisa buys him with her own money and sews the button on; A Pocket for Corduroy followed in 1978.

Teddy Ruxpin, the best-selling toy of 1985 and 1986, told stories using what technology?

His mouth and eyes moved in sync with the tape; Worlds of Wonder, the maker, went bankrupt within three years.

The Care Bears began life in 1981 as artwork for what?

American Greetings commissioned Elena Kucharik's paintings; Kenner's plush toys followed in 1983 and each bear got a 'belly badge'.

What is the ultimate weapon of the bears who live in the Kingdom of Caring's cloud city?

They line up and beam light from their tummy symbols; the 1985 film was the top-grossing non-Disney animation of its day.

Build-A-Bear Workshop was founded in 1997 by Maxine Clark in which city?

Customers stuff their own bear and tuck a fabric heart inside; a 2018 'Pay Your Age' promotion caused queues so long stores had to shut.

What is Fozzie Bear's catchphrase after telling a joke on The Muppet Show?

Frank Oz performed him from 1976 to 2000; the name honours Muppet builder Faz Fazakas, and Statler and Waldorf never laugh.

In the 2012 film Ted, the foul-mouthed teddy bear comes to life because of what?

Seth MacFarlane directed and voiced Ted opposite Mark Wahlberg's John Bennett; it set a record for an original R-rated comedy opening.

Sooty, Britain's longest-running children's TV bear, was originally a glove puppet bought where in 1948?

Harry Corbett found him on holiday; the catchphrase 'Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!' and friends Sweep and Soo came later.

Aloysius, Sebastian Flyte's teddy bear in Brideshead Revisited, was modelled on the real bear of which poet?

Betjeman's bear was called Archibald Ormsby-Gore; the 1981 TV series used a bear named Delicatessen owned by actor Peter Bull.

Smokey Bear was given his own what in 1964 because of the volume of mail he received?

ZIP code 20252 is still in use; a real cub rescued from a 1950 New Mexico fire lived out his life at the National Zoo.

Why does the 1952 song call the wildfire mascot 'Smokey the Bear' when his official name has no 'the'?

The songwriters admitted the extra word; the slogan changed from 'forest fires' to 'wildfires' in 2001.

Baloo, who teaches Mowgli the Law of the Jungle in Kipling's original stories, is what species?

His name is simply the Hindi word for bear; Disney's 1967 film turned the strict teacher into Phil Harris's easygoing crooner.

Which US greeting-card company, founded in 1898, launched the plush bear Snuffles in 1981?

Adolph Gund started the company in Norwalk, Connecticut; its 'Gotta Getta Gund' slogan dates from the 1980s and Spin Master bought it in 2018.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company repairs damaged bears free of charge at its what?

Every bear is guaranteed for life; the Shelburne factory draws more than 50,000 visitors a year for tours.

Bungle the bear, housemate of Zippy and George, appeared on which British children's series?

Several actors wore the suit over the show's run, including John Leeson, better known as the voice of K9 in Doctor Who.

Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear books, basis of the Nick Jr. series, were illustrated by whom?

Sendak illustrated the Little Bear books before Where the Wild Things Are; the show ran from 1995 to 2001.

The US writer Seymour Eaton cashed in on the 1900s craze with a children's series called what?

Teddy-B and Teddy-G toured America in rhyming verse; the books ran in newspapers before being collected.

Winnie, the London Zoo black bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh, was originally the mascot of what?

Lieutenant Colebourn was a vet with the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps; a statue of the pair stands in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg.

Sweep and Soo, the companions of glove-puppet bear Sooty, are what kinds of animal?

Sweep, a squeaking grey dog, arrived in 1957 and Soo, a panda, in 1964; Harry Corbett later handed the act to his son Matthew.

Elvis's 1957 number one '(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear' came from the soundtrack of which film?

He performs it on screen in the film, his second. The single held the top of the Billboard chart for seven weeks, one of four number ones he had that year.

Pudsey, the bandana-wearing bear introduced in 1985, is the mascot of which BBC charity appeal?

Graphic designer Joanna Lane named him after her hometown of Pudsey in West Yorkshire, where her grandfather had been mayor. His original 1985 face was sad; the 1986 redesign gave him a smile.

Which 1990s sitcom character's constant companion is a knitted toy simply called Teddy?

Teddy has been used as a paintbrush, a dishcloth and a Christmas turkey stand-in across the series. Rowan Atkinson's character treats him as a genuine friend.

What word describes people who are fond of, or collect, teddy bears?

The term borrows the Greek arktos, bear, the same root that gives us the Arctic, the land under the Great Bear constellation.

Rilakkuma, the teddy bear character that debuted in 2003, comes from which country?

San-X designer Aki Kondo named him from a blend of 'relax' and 'kuma', the Japanese word for bear. He was born of her envy of pet dogs' lazy lives while she was overworked.

After Taft won the 1908 election, toymakers pushed which plush animal to replace the teddy bear?

Billy Possum traded on Taft's love of 'possum and taters', a dish he was famously served in Atlanta. The fad had fizzled completely by Christmas 1909.

Which firm, founded in 1930, is the last traditional teddy bear maker left in the United Kingdom?

It still handmakes bears in a former iron foundry at Ironbridge in Shropshire. Its most famous bear was Mr Whoppit, the mascot of speed record breaker Donald Campbell.

The world's first teddy bear museum opened in 1984 in Petersfield, in which English county?

A sister foundation followed in Naples, Florida, in 1990. Both had closed by 2006 and their bears were sold at auction.

On April Fools' Day 1972, a veterinary journal published a paper on diseases of which 'species'?

The mock Latin name is a play on 'brown' and 'Edward', the formal version of Teddy. The paper detailed common afflictions of the household teddy bear.

The buyer who ordered 3,000 Steiff bears at the 1903 Leipzig fair was whose brother?

Hermann Berg bought for George Borgfeldt & Company. Steiff's records show the bears were made but none is recorded arriving in America, fuelling a legend that they were shipwrecked.