Who invented the Winnie the Pooh. Who wrote Winnie the Pooh, or the most interesting facts about your favorite book. Winnipeg - Canadian black bear from the London Zoo
Everything, everything, everything about Winnie the Pooh.
The history of the creation of the book about the adventures of the teddy bear Winnie the Pooh is far from simple. The bear has many prototypes, and its very birth was probably a complete surprise and may even be a prank for its creator. Winnie the Pooh's dad (writer who wrote the book) Scotsman Alan Alexander Milne was the son of a school teacher. Having received an excellent education, he worked at Punch magazine as an assistant editor. In 1913, Milne married Dorothy Daphne de Selincot, from this marriage one son, Christopher, was born.
Alan Alexander Milne was quite an "adult" writer and wrote serious books. He dreamed of earning the fame of the great author of detective stories, wrote plays and short stories. But ... on December 24, 1925, on Christmas Eve, the first chapter of Pooh "in which we first meet Winnie the Pooh and the bees" was printed in the London evening paper and broadcast on BBC radio. And for many years, Milnov's books have been a recognized classic of children's bookshelves and Disney cartoons.
Alan Alexander Milne with son Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh 1920s
The irony is that Milne was convinced that he did not write children's prose or children's poetry. He spoke to the child within each of us. By the way, he never read his fluff stories to his son, Christopher Robin,
although he acknowledged the decisive role of his wife, Dorothy, and son in writing and the very fact of the appearance of "Winnie the Pooh." 
Christopher Robin with his mother Dorothy Milne
Christopher Robin's room, Winnie on the bed, 1920s 
The history of the creation of this book is indeed full of mysteries and contradictions.
A path is traced from the front-line favorite of the soldiers, the Winnipeg bear (by the way, the predatory Baribal), which came to Great Britain during the First World War as a living mascot (mascot) of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps from Canada, from the outskirts of the city of Winnipeg. It was decided to leave the beast until the end of the war at the London Zoo. Londoners fell in love with the bear, and the military did not object to not taking it from the zoo even after the war. Until the end of her days (she died on May 12, 1934), the she-bear was at the allowance of the veterinary corps, about which in 1919 a corresponding inscription was made on her cage.
In 1924, Alan Milne first came to the zoo with his four-year-old son Christopher Robin, who really became friends with Winnie, even gave her sweet milk to drink. Three years earlier, Milne bought an Alpha Farnell teddy bear (see photo) from Harrods and gave his son a teddy bear (see photo) for his first birthday. After the owner met Winnie, this bear was named after his beloved bear. The boy even came up with a new name for him - Winnie Pooh. The word Pooh came to the former Teddy from a swan whom Christopher Robin met when the whole family went to their country house at Cotchford Farm in Sussex. By the way, this is next to the very forest, which is now known to the whole world as the Hundred Acre Forest. Why Pooh? Yes, because "because if you call him and the swan does not come (which they love to do), you can pretend that Pooh said just like that ...". The toy bear was about two feet tall, had a light coloration, and had frequent eye drops.
Christopher Robin's real toys were also Piglet, Eeyore without a tail, Kanga, Roo and Tiger. Owl and Rabbit Milne invented himself. 
The toys that Christopher Robin played with are in the New York Public Library. In 1996, Milne's favorite teddy bear was sold in London at the Bonham House auction to an unknown buyer for £4,600.
The very first person in the world who was lucky enough to see Winnie the Pooh was the then young artist, Punch magazine cartoonist Ernest Sheppard. It was he who first illustrated Winnie the Pooh. Initially, the teddy bear and his friends were black and white, and then they became colored. And the teddy bear of his son posed for Ernest Sheppard, not Pooh at all, but “Growler” (or Grumpy). 
Artist Ernest Howard Shepard (1879–1976), who illustrated the book. 1976 
Shepard's Christmas card, Sotheby's. 2008 
First American edition at Sotheby's auction. 2008
In total, two books about Winnie the Pooh were written: Winnie-the-Pooh (the first separate edition was published on October 14, 1926 by the London publishing house Methuen & Co) and The House at Pooh Corner (The House at Pooh Corner, 1928). In addition, two collections of Milne's children's poems, When We Were Very Young (When we were very young) and Now We Are Six (Now we are six years old), contain several poems about Winnie the Pooh. 
Alan Alexander Milne, 1948
When Milne died, no one doubted that he had discovered the secret of immortality. And this is not 15 minutes of fame, this is real immortality, which, contrary to his own expectations, was brought to him not by plays and short stories, but by a little bear with sawdust in his head.
Christopher wrote to his friend Peter (actor): "My father knew nothing about the specifics of the book market, knew nothing about the specifics of sales, he never wrote books for children. He knew about me, he knew about himself and about the Garrick Club (writing - Artistic Club of London) - and he simply did not pay attention to everything else ... Except, perhaps, life itself. 
Adult Christopher Robin with his fiancee 1948
Worldwide sales of Winnie the Pooh since 1924. to 1956 exceeded 7 million.
By 1996, about 20 million copies had been sold, and only by Muffin. This does not include publishers in the US, Canada, and non-English speaking countries.
In 1961, the Disney Company acquired the rights to Winnie the Pooh. Walt Disney slightly changed the famous illustrations of the artist Shepard, which accompanied Milne's books, and released a series of cartoons about Winnie the Pooh. According to Forbes magazine, Winnie the Pooh is the second most profitable character in the world, behind only Mickey Mouse. Winnie the Pooh generates $5.6 billion in revenue each year
On April 11, 2006, Winnie the Pooh's star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
At the same time, Milne's granddaughter, who lives in England, Claire Milne, is trying to get her bear cub back. Or rather, the right to it. So far unsuccessful 
In 1960, Winnie the Pooh was brilliantly translated into Russian by Boris Zakhoder and published with illustrations by Alice Poret. 
The bear cub gained even greater popularity among Soviet children and adults after the release of three 10-minute cartoons based on the book at the Soyuzmultfilm studio. True, the bear cub turned out to be completely different from Milnovsky. However, this did not prevent him from becoming a universal favorite. What are his chants, yells, and sawdust worth. 
90 years ago, October 14, 1926, at the London publishing house Methuen&Co A book was published that made the modest writer Alan Milne famous all over the world. These were the adventures of Winnie the Pooh, in the original version consisting of two books: "Winnie the Pooh" and "House on the Bear's Corner". In the Russian translation, the fairy tale came out in an incomplete version under the title "Winnie the Pooh and All-All-All" translated by Boris Zakhoder.
The prototype of Christopher Robin was the writer's son, Christopher Robin, and the restless teddy bear had two prototypes: Christopher Edward's teddy bear, which was given to the baby for his first birthday, and the Winnipeg bear from Canada, who ended up in the London Zoo, where the boy's favorite swan also lived. named Pooh. A piglet and a tailless donkey, a kangaroo with a plush cub in a bag, and a tiger were also Christopher's toys. Of all the characters invented by Alan Milne, only the Rabbit and the Owl were invented.
The tragedy of Alan Milne and Christopher Robin
What could be better than becoming the hero of a cult fairy tale, a full-fledged participant in the magical world! You may be surprised, but Christopher Robin said that it would be better if Winnie the Pooh did not exist at all. The book drew too much attention to the unhappy family, portraying a family idyll in front of journalists' cameras. In fact, there were big problems in the Milne household.
The root of these problems lay in the childhood of Alan Milne, an unloved child who felt himself in the shadow of his brothers. The boy tried his best to prove that he was no worse, and now, at the age of 24, he became a successful young writer and assistant editor in a satirical magazine. Punch. Shortly after this happy appointment, Milne met his future wife Dorothy de Selincourt (Daphne) at a social evening. This moment became fatal for the writer and predetermined the further tragic development of his fate. Dorothy came from an aristocratic French family, was known for her spoiledness and bad temper. In any case, so in his article "Alan Milne: Winnie the Pooh and Other Troubles" says journalist Barry Gun.
Dorothy longed for success and fame, and at the expense of her husband. Alan fell under her boundless influence, trying to fulfill all the ridiculous demands and the slightest wishes of the absurd Daphne. What is worth just going to war (the First World War was on):
“If Daphne, capriciously twisting her lips, demanded that Alan jump from the roof of London's St. Paul's Cathedral, he most likely would have done so. In any case, the 32-year-old Milne volunteered for the front of the First World War, which began a year after his marriage, solely because his wife really liked the officers in military uniform who flooded the city.
Dorothy wanted to see a famous playwright next to her, but fame came to Milne from the other side. To earn extra money, he secretly wrote "Winnie the Pooh" and sent it to the publisher, not expecting anything special. Overnight, Alan Milne became famous, journalists vying with each other wanted to interview, readers came to look at Christopher Robin and his famous teddy bear. And Daphne expressed contempt. Most likely, this is what influenced the author's attitude to his masterpiece - he began to be ashamed of the fairy tale, on which more than one generation of children around the world was later brought up.
The mother did not pay any attention to Christopher Robin, the father was depressed and self-absorbed, so the only close person for him was the nanny. It was a real torment to portray a happy boy from a baby book.
“Once Christopher compared his father to the donkey Eeyore: Alan was just as gloomy, thoughtful and suspicious, he was locked up in his office all day long - what was he doing there? writes Barry. “By the way, his wife often forgot about his birthdays, and it was Christopher who usually reproachfully reminded his mother about them. Recovering herself, Daphne rushed to her room and, returning, gave her husband something like an empty honey barrel - for example, some useless case for glasses or a bag lying around in her closet; once managed to present Alan with her own unpacked sweater, which he also gave her.
Dorothy and Christopher Robin Milne
In the end, Daphne left the family for some American singer, advising her husband to wait until she checked her feelings. Three years later, she returned, again breaking the life of her husband and son, which had just begun to improve. During this time, Alan became close to his brother Ken's widow and her four children. A large family lived together, but for the sake of Dorothy, Alan left Maud, and Christopher stayed. In 1951, Alan Milne suffered a stroke, became paralyzed and underwent a risky brain operation that turned him into a "plant" until his death in 1956. Christopher, at his father's funeral, said something to his mother, for which she hit him and threw a glass of water in his face.
Dorothy lived another 15 years, but mother and son never saw each other again. Christopher did not attend her funeral. You don't have to be a psychologist to understand how such a family history affected the worldview of Christopher Robin.
Alan Milne reading his book
The young man graduated from Cambridge with a bachelor's degree in English, and in 1948 married his own cousin Leslie Selincourt, which caused Alan Milne's concerns about heredity. In 1956, the couple had a daughter, Claire Milne. The girl was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
The couple's family business was their own bookstore, Harbour, which Christopher and Leslie opened in Dormouth. Christopher Milne died in his sleep on April 20, 1996, and six years later his wife organized a foundation to help children with cerebral palsy, which transfers a significant part of the funds from the use of the image of Winnie the Pooh. The store was closed in 2011 due to unprofitability, but Winnie the Pooh fans, having chipped in, bought all the equipment and opened it in another building.
Mythology Winnie the Pooh
Researcher Vadim Rudnev is probably wrong when he says that Alan Milne was a talented man, but narrow-minded - because he failed to appreciate the scale of the created work. In the book "Winnie the Pooh and the Philosophy of Ordinary Language" Rudnev analyzes the fairy tale, destroying the stereotype that "Winnie the Pooh" is a purely children's story.
The structure of the VP is determined by one of the most universal archaic mythologemes - the world tree, which embodies the archaic cosmos. Indeed, the tree is the central object of space, composition and plot of the VP: all the action takes place in the Forest, and most of the characters - Pooh, Piglet, Owl and Christopher Robin - live in trees. A number of specific plots of the VP are associated with the tree: on the tree, Pooh is saved from the flood (the Flood that ends the first book); Christopher Robin watches from the tree; friends-and-relatives of the Rabbit climb the tree to view the most important events from it<...>. The Owl's tree-house falls from the storm at the end of the second book, which serves as a symbol of the destruction of the archaic world and the departure of Christopher Robin to the big world.
The circle formed by trees (Geleon's Bosom) in the final of the VP personifies eternity and the indestructibility of the world of childhood. But the most universal plot, connected with the tree, directly opens the world of VP. Pooh climbs a tree in search of honey; he fails to take away the honey from the bees, but it is precisely when he climbs a tree that he begins to write poetry, which is certainly a reminiscence to the mythologem of the sacred honey of poetry, in search of which the god Odin climbs the World Tree in the “Younger Edda”.
By the way, the Wonderful Forest (in the original “Hundred Acre Forest”) is the Ashdown forest in East Sussex, near which the Cochford farm bought in 1025 by Alan Milne was located. Little Christopher Robin was very fond of climbing into the hollows of trees and playing with his bear cub Edward.
Shepard's iconic illustrations
The canonical illustrations for the adventures of Winnie the Pooh are the drawings of the English artist Ernest Shepard. Like Milne, he worked for a magazine Punch(only much longer), in which he was one of the leading political cartoonists. The artist was famous for his elegant humor even on the darkest topics, such as war, and he also loved animals very much and tried to complement the composition with them wherever possible.
Shepard's candidacy was recommended to Milne by a colleague, and he successfully completed the "test task" - he illustrated a collection of children's poems When We Were Very Young. Milne was delighted.
The artist began work on "Winnie the Pooh", using as a model not Edward Christopher Robin's teddy bear, but Grumpy ( Growler) - a toy of his son Graham. Unfortunately, this teddy bear was not preserved, it was torn to pieces by Shepard's dog.
And to create the home comfort of a forest fairy-tale world, Shepard was inspired by the atmosphere of his beloved Surrey, where he first lived on the estate Shamley Green and then in the big house Long Meadow.
The illustrations received excellent reviews, but in the last years of his life, Shepard tended to refer to Winnie the Pooh as a "stupid old bear" and resented the fact that everyone associated his name with a children's book. The artist was offended that "Winnie the Pooh" overshadowed all his other achievements. Ernest Shepard died at the age of 96, and after his death, the sketches for the fairy tale were sold for much more than the political cartoons to which he devoted his life and for which he risked his life.
Archivist Sharon Maxwell, who studied Shepard's wartime illustrations, said she had an impressive insight into life on the front lines: "While television gives the official version, they allow you to see the side that was lost: the stories that happened every day, he and his comrades, what they did, what happened."
For more on Ernest Shepard's work on Winnie the Pooh, see two of his autobiographies: Drawn from Memory and Drawn From Life..
About cartoons
The whole world knows two animated adaptations of the immortal fairy tale by Alan Milne: American and Russian. First came the American cartoon, created in 1961 at the studio Disney. Judging by the images of the characters, the artists were guided by Shepard's drawings.
The Soviet "Winnie the Pooh" was created from 1969 to 1972. It consists of three parts, and the creation of each of them lasted a year. The director of the domestic masterpiece was Fedor Khitruk.
The artist recalled that at first the team failed to approve the images of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet for a long time. The first version, presented by Vladimir Zuykov, was nicknamed "the enraged dandelion" - the bear cub was shaggy, and Piglet looked like a sausage. They decided to comb the bear cub, although they left the “chewed” left ear. Khitruk explained that Winnie the Pooh slept on it. As a result of a technical error, a characteristic gait of a bear cub appeared - when the upper and lower paws on one side move simultaneously. Piglet was "born" after Zuykov added a thin neck to the piglet - the image immediately became touching and complete.
“When Evgeny Leonov, who was not the only contender for dubbing, entered the studio, approached the microphone, somehow shyly turned his head away, smiled slyly, we all gasped: “Here he is, Pooh!”. Leonov became the prototype of our Winnie the Pooh. From it, the artist drew the final version of the character.
An inseparable part of the image of Winnie the Pooh was the actor Yevgeny Leonov, who was invited to voice the cartoon. At first, Khitruk did not really like the result of the voice acting, and the recording was sped up by 30% - as a result, the signature voice of the bear cub appeared. Piglet was voiced by Iya Savina, who, working on the voice of the piglet, parodied Bella Akhmadullina.
Photo: Pakhomova Lyudmila/TASS
If artists were closer to canonical illustrations Disney, then Soyuzmultfilm turned out to be closer to the text of the fairy tale. And in one of his interviews, Fyodor Khitruk said that during a meeting with American colleagues, the director of the American version, Woolly Reitherman, admitted his defeat:
“We came to America to the studio Disney to show our pictures to its then chief director Woolly Reiterman. Woolley, if you remember, just created the Disney “Winnie the Pooh,” Khitruk said. - So, we showed an incredible number of films, sat, smoked Cuban cigars, discussed. And then Reiterman suddenly admits: “You know, I like your Winnie the Pooh much more than my own.” On the one hand, it’s embarrassing to brag, but on the other hand, I’m still proud of such praise. ”
How Christopher Robin, Denis Dragunsky and Timur Gaidar didn't meet
Denis Dragunsky, the son of the famous children's writer Viktor Dragunsky, who wrote "Deniska's Stories", said that one day, in the late 80s, an English professor offered to arrange a meeting of three real characters in children's books with literary heroes - namesakes: Christopher Robin, Timur Gaidar and himself Dragunsky, the prototype of the hooligan Deniska Korablev. However, Denis Viktorovich refused.
“Now, of course, I regret it,” Dragunsky wrote in his article with the telling title “50 years with Deniska around his neck.” – And I refused because in those years any hint of my “prototype” was very unpleasant to me. Then I just had a long period of stagnation and failure. He gave up teaching, forgot science, and literary (more precisely, dramatic) experiments did not bring anything. Just money, and not much. But no success, no inner joy. During these years, I simply could not hear about Deniska's stories. Sometimes it seemed to me that this was my destiny - to be the hero of my father's book and no one else. Separate evil citizens who felt these experiences of mine and wanted to hurt me more painfully told me: “Well, who are you, to be honest? Denis from the stories! I was hurt. Then my life changed for the better, and now I am happy to talk about this book.
It seems that talented parents, giving the character the name of their own child, sometimes do not realize that all his life he will have to get out of the shadow of his famous hero.
Maria Al-Salkhani
"Winnie the Pooh and All, All, All" is wonderful. She became famous all over the world. The hero of the fairy tale Christopher Robin is a boy who has a very developed fantasy and lives in his world of toys. .
The book is unique in that each chapter is a separate fairy tale that reveals one story. Reading it is easy and fun. The main character of fairy tales, Christopher Robin, has such qualities as: kindness, courage, compliance.
He sets a good example for everyone how to treat the weak and true friends. . We invite you to read the book by Alan Milne "Winnie the Pooh and all-all-all" lovers of light and fun adventures. The product will give you a lot of joyful emotions.
Brief story
This tale tells of a boy, Christopher Robin, who has teddy bear Winnie the Pooh and various adventures constantly happen to him . One story tells how a clubfoot notices something buzzing on a tall oak tree and thinks that these are bees, and if they are bees, then it means that his favorite honey is there too!
He tries to climb a tree, but quickly falls into the bushes. Teddy bear can't be stopped! Winnie took the blue balloon. Climbing on it, he disguises himself as a cloud to deceive the bees, but you can’t fool them- the bees actively begin to sting Pooh in turn.
In a panic, Vinnie asks to shoot Christopher with a gun. After a quick fall, his paws hurt for a long time. Another adventure with a teddy bear takes place visiting a Rabbit who lives in a hole . The favorite of sweets ate all the goodies, after which his stomach increased in size so that Winnie could not get out of the hole.
Staying in the hole for a whole week, his real friend Christopher Robin does not leave him, but supports him by reading books, until Pooh became smaller and was pulled out of the hole by all common efforts. Another case tells how the donkey lost his tail.
Upon learning of what happened, Winnie goes to search for the loss, arranging his own investigation. First of all, he goes to the Owl. Wasting no time, he immediately tells the wise Owl about the incident. During the conversation, it turns out that the mistress of the house has a new cord for the doorbell, which she recently got.
It turns out that she accidentally tore off Eeyore's tail and tied it to a bell on her doors. Pooh tells the Owl how precious the donkey's tail was. This story makes such an impression on her that she gives it away with pleasure. The donkey is very pleased with the return of his loss.
Many more adventures are described by Alan Milne, for example, meeting with an unknown animal Tigra, mother Kangaroo and Baby Roo, and also describes a trip to the North Pole and a small flood, and there are a lot of such stories.
All adventures end when Christopher Robin leaves the forest, and all the inhabitants say goodbye to him. In a short description, it is impossible to convey all the interesting facts of the travels of Winnie the Pooh and his friends, but only by reading Alan Milne's fairy tale "Winnie the Pooh and All, All, All" in full.
Why is it worth reading a book?
- Each chapter is a new story, it can be read separately.
- The example of Christopher Robin and fairy-tale characters helps children to show kindness and disinterestedness.
Reading Alan Milne about Winnie the Pooh and his comrades is very interesting. A kind, instructive, funny, wonderful book that both adults and children like . Leave your comments, we will be very grateful.
Who wrote "Winnie the Pooh"? A man who wanted to enter the history of English literature as a serious writer, but entered and remained as the creator of the hero that everyone has known since childhood - a plush bear with a head stuffed with sawdust. Alan Alexander Milne created the teddy bear series of stories and poems, writing stories for his son, Christopher Robin, who also became the subject of the book.
Many of Milne's characters got their names thanks to very real prototypes - his son's toys. Perhaps the most confusing is the story of Vinnie himself. Winnipeg is the name of a bear who lived in Christopher's pet. Milne brought his son to the zoo in 1924, and three years before that, the boy received a bear as a gift for his first birthday, before that epoch-making meeting of the nameless. He was called Teddy, as is customary in But after meeting a live bear, the toy was named Winnie in her honor. Gradually, Winnie made friends: a loving father bought new toys for his son, neighbors gave the boy Piglet a pig. Such characters as the Owl and the Rabbit, the author came up with in the course of events in the book.
The first chapter of the bear cub story appeared on Christmas Eve 1925. Winnie the Pooh and his friends stepped into a life that continues happily to this day. To be more precise, he wrote two prose books and two collections of poems about Winnie Milne. Prose collections are dedicated to the writer's wife.
But the answer to the question of who wrote Winnie the Pooh will be incomplete if you do not name one more name. Ernest Shepard, cartoonist for Punch magazine, as well as Milne, a World War I veteran. He became a real co-author of the writer, creating images of toy heroes as they are imagined by generations of children.
Why so about the teddy bear and his friends? Probably because for many, these stories, told one after another, resemble fairy tales that loving parents tell their children. Often such fairy tales are simply invented at night. Of course, not all parents have such a gift that Milne had, but this special family atmosphere, where the child is surrounded by love and care, is felt in every line of the book.
Another reason for such popularity is the amazing language of the fairy tale. The author of "Winnie the Pooh" plays and amuses himself with words: there are puns, and parodies, including advertising, and funny phraseological units, and other philological delights. Therefore, the book is loved not only by children, but also by adults.
But again, there is no definitive answer to the question of who wrote Winnie the Pooh. Because "Winnie the Pooh" is a magical book, it was translated by the best writers from different countries, considering it an honor to help little fellow citizens get acquainted with funny ones. For example, the sister of the poet Julian Tuvim, Irena, translated the book into Polish. There were several translations into Russian, but the text of Boris Zakhoder, which was published in 1960, became a classic, and millions of Soviet children began to repeat howls and chants after Winnie the bear cub.
A separate story - a screen version of a fairy tale. In the West, the Disney studio series is known, which, by the way, the protagonist of the book did not really like - And the Soviet cartoon with amazing voice acting, where the characters speak in the voices of E. Leonov, I. Savina, E. Garin, is still much more popular in the post-Soviet space.
The one who wrote "Winnie the Pooh" could not free himself from the hugs of a teddy bear, but it was this book that brought him immortality.
1. The story of one of the most famous fairy tale characters of the 20th century winnie the pooh began on August 21, 1921, when the writer Alan Alexander Milne gave his son Christopher Robin a teddy bear for his birthday. Christopher Robin is one year old today.
In fairness, it must be said that this day is a very conditional birthday of Winnie the Pooh. The teddy bear found its name only a few years later, when Christopher Robin grew up. Therefore, Winnie the Pooh also has a second birthday - October 14, 1926, when the first separate book about a teddy bear and his friends was released.
2. The history of the name Winnie the Pooh is described in some detail in Milne's book. However, about the bear Winnipeg, who gave the first part of the name to the beloved bear cub, should be said especially. Kept at the London Zoo in the early 1920s, the bear was previously the mascot (living symbol) of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, based around Winnipeg. Winnipeg entered the army as a bear cub when 27-year-old regimental veterinarian Lieutenant Harry Colborne bought her out for $20.
During the First World War, along with her unit, Winnipeg ended up in London, but, of course, no one sent her to the battlefield - the beast was left in the London Zoo. The bear was so fond of the English children that Winnipeg was left in London even after the war. In 1924, Alan Alexander Milne brought his son Christopher Robin to see Winnipeg for the first time. The boy liked the bear so much that on the same day his teddy bear was named Winnie.
In 1981, 61-year-old Christopher Robin Milne unveiled a monument to his friend, the Winnipeg bear, at the London Zoo.
At the same time, Winnie the Pooh has another name - Edward, which is the full form of the traditional English nickname for all teddy bears - Teddy.
3. Alan Alexander Milne's books grew out of oral histories that the writer told his son. However, most of the characters and locations in the Winnie the Pooh stories are genuine.
The well-known Hundred-Acre Forest, or Fairy Forest, was actually the 500-acre Ashdown Forest near the Cochford farm in East Sussex, bought in 1925 by the Milne family. In the book about Winnie the Pooh, you can read a completely realistic description of the forest, in which the real Christopher Robin Milne really loved to play.
Piglet was actually Christopher Robin's toy given to him by his neighbors, and Eeyore, like Winnie himself, was a gift from his parents. This toy was deprived of a tail by Christopher Robin himself during the games, which was the reason for Milne Sr. to make the donkey the most gloomy and dull hero.
Kanga with Baby Roo and Tigger, which appear somewhat later in the Winnie the Pooh stories, were bought by Christopher Robin's parents on purpose to diversify the stories.
The only ones that Christopher Robin didn't have were the Owl and the Rabbit, which is why they appear in the stories as real animals, not toys.
4. In total, Alan Alexander Milne wrote two books about the adventures of Winnie the Pooh - "Winnie the Pooh", published in 1926, and "The House at Pooh Corner", which was released in 1928. The author dedicated both books to his wife and mother. son of Daphne Selincourt.
Each of the books consists of 10 chapters, each of which, in turn, is a separate complete story. In addition, Winnie the Pooh appears in two books of Milne's children's poems, published in 1924 and 1927.
5. The story of Alan Alexander Milne is similar to that of other English writer -Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle did not consider the story of Sherlock Holmes the most successful in his work, and the incredible popularity of the detective over time began to be perceived with frank hostility.
Alan Alexander Milne, before the appearance of books about Winnie the Pooh, collaborated with the English humor magazine Punch, and was considered a fairly well-known playwright who wrote serious plays for adults. However, after Winnie the Pooh, Milne began to be perceived solely as a children's writer, which the author himself considered offensive and unfair. However, Milne Sr. could not do anything about this - today only Winnie the Pooh is known from his creative heritage.
6. In 1929, Alan Alexander Milne sold the commercial rights to exploit the image of Winnie the Pooh. producer Steven Slesinger. The producer released several popular performances about Winnie the Pooh. The bear came to the big screen after Slesinger's widow resold the rights to Winnie the Pooh to the studio in 1961. Disney. After releasing several cartoons directly from the book, later the Disney masters began to invent their own stories. It is interesting that the Milne family and, first of all, Christopher Robin Milne, who believed that the style and plots of the film had nothing to do with the spirit of his father's book, were extremely negative towards the work of American animators.
7. The history of "Winnie the Pooh" in the USSR began in 1958, when a 20-year-old Lithuanian writer Virgilijus Chepaitis published his own translation based on the Polish translation Irena Tuwim.
In the same 1958, he met Winnie the Pooh Boris Zakhoder, who was to create the canonical Russian version of the adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It is interesting that the book was treated with suspicion: the main children's publishing house of the USSR, Detgiz, refused it, and the newly created publishing house Detsky Mir risked publishing Zakhoder's translation.
In the canonical Russian version, unlike the original, there are only 18 chapters. Zakhoder himself did not hide the fact that his translation of Milne is very free. For example, in the original, Winnie the Pooh is not as creative a person as Zakhoder's - Chrychalka, Howlers, Noise Makers, Puffers were invented by a Soviet writer.
8. The first and classic for the British illustrations for books about Winnie the Pooh created artist Ernest Shepard, a former colleague of Alan Alexander Milne in Punch magazine and his army colleague during the First World War.
It is curious that Shepard drew Christopher Robin from the real son of Milne, but the teddy bear of the artist's son became the prototype of Winnie the Pooh.
Shepard, like Milne Sr., was soon disappointed - the teddy bear's insane popularity overshadowed all his other works.
The first illustrations for the Russian translation by Zakhoder were created by artist Alisa Poret, student of the greatest Petrova-Vodkina. The illustrations are also well known. Edward Nazarov- the artist who created the Soviet animated Winnie the Pooh.
Another famous illustrator of domestic Winnie artist Viktor Chizhikov, which is the "father" of another bear - the mascot of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
9. Work on the Soviet animated film adaptation of Winnie the Pooh began in the late 1960s. Boris Zakhoder became the screenwriter of cartoons, and the famous Fedor Khitruk. In total, three cartoons were released, although initially it was supposed to make films for all the chapters of the book. The reason for abandoning this idea was the conflicts between Zakhoder and Khitruk - each of these extraordinarily talented people turned out to have their own vision of what Winnie the Pooh should be, and they failed to agree among themselves.
Nevertheless, the filmed three cartoons gained incredible popularity. Not least, this was due to the actors who were invited to voice the characters. Winnie the Pooh was entrusted Evgeny Leonov, which after this cartoon became for Soviet citizens "the honored Winnie the Pooh of the USSR", Piglet - inimitable Ie Savvina, and Eeyore was voiced by the patriarch of Russian cinema Erast Garin. For Erast Garin, who once brilliantly played the King in Cinderella, Eeyore became one of the last and one of the most memorable works in his career.
It is estimated that at least 20 phrases from the Soviet film adaptation of Winnie the Pooh entered the colloquial speech of Russians, and the cartoon characters themselves became heroes of jokes on a par with Stirlitz and Vasily Ivanovich.
10. The popularity of Winnie the Pooh in the world knows no bounds: in Poland, at least in three cities, the streets are named after him, and the image of the teddy bear is imprinted on the stamps of at least 18 countries around the world. In 1958, the book about Winnie the Pooh was translated into Latin, and in 1982 composer Olga Petrova based on the plot, Milna wrote an opera about Winnie the Pooh. Authentic Christopher Robin toys are today one of the New York Public Library's most prized children's items. In the UK itself, many of the presence of these toys in the US is considered a loss of cultural heritage and from time to time they campaign for the return of Winnie the Pooh to his homeland. In 1998, the question of the return of Winnie the Pooh was discussed even in the English Parliament.