60 Fun Facts About Winnie the Pooh

Who wrote the Winnie-the-Pooh books?

Milne was a Londoner and Punch contributor who bought a country home near Ashdown Forest in 1925.

Who illustrated the original Winnie-the-Pooh books?

Shepard based his drawings of Pooh not on Christopher Robin's bear but on his own son's teddy, Growler.

What is Pooh's favourite food?

He spells it 'hunny' and likes 'a little something' at around eleven in the morning.

What is the name of the forest where the Pooh stories are set?

It was based on the real Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.

The real forest that inspired the stories is in which English county?

Milne's country home was Cotchford Farm near Hartfield, a mile north of Ashdown Forest.

Which London department store did Milne buy his son's teddy bear from in 1921?

The boy first called it Edward, then renamed it after a bear at London Zoo.

What was Christopher Robin's teddy bear originally called before it became Winnie?

The bear made his debut as Edward in Milne's 1924 poem 'Teddy Bear' in Punch.

The 'Pooh' part of the name came from what kind of animal?

Pooh the swan even appears as a character in his own right in When We Were Very Young.

The real bear Winnie at London Zoo was named after which city?

Lieutenant Harry Colebourn bought the cub for C$20 in White River, Ontario, on his way to the First World War.

What was Harry Colebourn, the soldier who bought the bear cub Winnie, by profession?

He left Winnie at London Zoo while serving in France and donated her officially after the war.

Where have Christopher Robin's original stuffed toys been displayed since 1987?

They went to the US with Milne's American publisher in 1947 and were donated to the library in 1987.

Which two Pooh characters were invented by Milne rather than based on Christopher Robin's toys?

Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Tigger were all real nursery toys.

Which character was created for the Disney films and never appeared in Milne's books?

Disney licensed the film rights from Milne's widow and the Slesinger estate in 1961.

In which year was the book Winnie-the-Pooh first published?

The first story had already appeared in London's Evening News on Christmas Eve 1925.

What was the title of Milne's 1928 sequel, the second book of stories about the bear?

It introduced Tigger, the only major new character in the second book.

Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a Christmas story in which London newspaper?

The Christmas Eve 1925 story became the first chapter of the book.

What kind of animal is Eeyore?

His name mimics a bray, 'hee-haw', as heard in a non-rhotic English accent.

What is Eeyore's favourite food?

His home is marked on the map as 'Eeyore's Gloomy Place: Rather Boggy and Sad'.

How does Christopher Robin reattach Eeyore's lost tail?

Owl had mistaken the tail, with its pink bow, for a bell-pull.

What does Piglet's grandfather's name 'Trespassers William' come from?

The sign reads 'TRESPASSERS W', which Piglet explains is short for Trespassers Will, short for Trespassers William.

What kind of tree does Piglet live in?

Piglet's favourite food is acorns, which the book spells 'haycorns'.

How does Owl spell his own name?

He also wrote 'HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY' on Eeyore's birthday pot.

What is the name of Owl's home?

It is described as an 'old world residence of great charm', until it blows down in a storm.

What is the only thing Tigger discovers he likes to eat when he first arrives?

Kanga keeps it on hand as 'strengthening medicine' for Roo.

What does Tigger say Tiggers do best?

He arrives at Pooh's door in the middle of the night, announcing himself with a stylised roar.

Who hatches the plan to 'unbounce' Tigger by getting him lost in the mist?

The plan backfires and Pooh finds the way home by following the 'call' of his honeypots.

Pooh's clock has stopped at what time, meaning it is always nearly snack time?

Pooh makes a habit of having 'a little something' around eleven in the morning.

What did Pooh end up giving Eeyore for his birthday after eating the honey on the way?

Piglet's balloon burst on the way too, but it fitted neatly inside the empty pot.

What game do Pooh and his friends play by dropping sticks off a bridge?

Milne and Christopher Robin really played it on a footbridge near Cotchford Farm, which is now a tourist attraction.

In which English county is the annual world championship of Pooh's stick-dropping bridge game held?

The game began in The House at Pooh Corner before crossing into real life.

What elephant-like creature do Pooh and Piglet try to trap but never actually meet in the books?

They only appear in Pooh and Piglet's dreams; Shepard's illustration shows an Indian elephant.

How does Pooh rescue Piglet from the flood?

It is one of the 'bear of very little brain's' occasional clever ideas.

Which museum put the skull of the real bear Winnie on public display in 2015?

A 2015 study of the skull found chronic gum disease, possibly from the honey Christopher Robin spoon-fed her.

Winnie ille Pu, published in 1958, was a translation of the book into which language?

In 1960 it became the only Latin book ever to make the New York Times bestseller list.

Where are the original English manuscripts of the Pooh books held?

Milne bequeathed them to his alma mater's Wren Library.

In what year did Pooh first appear in colour wearing his now-familiar red shirt?

Stephen Slesinger drew him for an RCA Victor picture record; Disney did not adopt him until 1961.

Disney's first Pooh featurette, in 1966, was titled 'Winnie the Pooh and ...' what?

Three featurettes were combined into the 1977 feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Which actor was Disney's original voice of Pooh, from 1966 to 1977?

He was also the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland and Kaa in The Jungle Book.

Who voiced Tigger for Disney from 1968 to 1999?

Jim Cummings, also the modern voice of Pooh, took over fully with The Tigger Movie in 2000.

Who voiced Piglet in Disney's films from 1968 until his death in 2005?

He was famous as the meek Juror #2 in 12 Angry Men; Travis Oates has voiced Piglet since.

Which was the first Disney Pooh film to give a supporting character his own title, in 2000?

Piglet's Big Movie followed in 2003 and Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005.

Who plays the grown-up title character in Disney's 2018 live-action film Christopher Robin?

Marc Forster directed; Jim Cummings voiced Pooh and Tigger, and Brad Garrett was Eeyore.

Which 2017 film starred Domhnall Gleeson as A. A. Milne?

It explores the creation of the stories and their effect on the real Christopher Robin.

Milne's US copyright on the original Pooh character expired on which date?

It had been 95 years since the first story; the horror film Blood and Honey followed almost immediately.

Which book by Benjamin Hoff uses Milne's characters to explain Taoism?

Hoff followed it with The Te of Piglet; Frederick Crews satirised academia in The Pooh Perplex.

Who wrote 'Return to Pooh Corner' and its 1970s predecessor, first recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band?

He rewrote it as 'Return to Pooh Corner' for a 1991 album of the same name.

How much did the original 1926 illustrated map of Pooh's forest sell for at Sotheby's in 2018?

It set a world record for a book illustration at auction.

Which Olympic figure skater is famous for having fans shower the ice with Pooh bears after his skates?

He carries a stuffed Pooh as a lucky charm; at Pyeongchang 2018 a spectator said 'the ice turned yellow'.

Images of Pooh were censored in China from 2017 after memes compared him to which leader?

The 2018 film Christopher Robin was also denied a Chinese release, though authorities gave no official reason.

Where did Pooh rank in the BBC's 2003 Big Read poll of the nation's favourite books?

In 2002 Forbes ranked him the most valuable fictional character, ahead of everyone except, by 2005, Mickey Mouse.

Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 to mark which birthday?

His 100th anniversary falls in 2026, marked by Disney Japan's 'Pooh Time' project.

Shepard drew Pooh not from Christopher Robin's bear but from Growler, a teddy belonging to whom?

The detail comes from James Campbell, husband of Shepard's great-granddaughter.

In 1930 Slesinger bought US and Canadian merchandising rights to the bear for what advance?

Milne also took 66% of Slesinger's income; he went on to create the first Pooh doll, record, board game and NBC radio show.

Who narrated the four Pooh stories released by RCA Records in 1951?

Cecil Roy voiced Pooh on the recording, years before Disney's Sterling Holloway took the role.

Who voiced Pooh in the 1990s audio dramatisations that also featured Judi Dench as Kanga?

Jane Horrocks played Piglet and Geoffrey Palmer Eeyore, with music by John Gould.

Who wrote the authorised sequel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, published in October 2009?

A second authorised sequel followed in 2016, with four stories by four leading children's authors.

What new character was added in the 2016 sequel The Best Bear in All the World?

It was inspired by a long-lost photograph of Milne and his son Christopher with a toy of that animal.

Whose Russian translation was used for the celebrated Soviet animated Pooh trilogy?

Yevgeny Leonov voiced Pooh, and the films drew on aspects of Milne's text that Disney's versions left out.

Which horror film exploited the bear's entry into the US public domain by making him a killer?

Rhys Frake-Waterfield's horror film got a sequel in 2024 and a third instalment was announced.

Milne bought Cotchford Farm, his country home near Ashdown Forest, in which year?

It sat a mile north of the forest near Hartfield, and the first Pooh book appeared the following year.