Introduction
Did you know Bristol has a connection with Alan Alexander Milne's Winnie the Pooh?
In 1921, A. A. Milne bought his son Christopher Robin the toy bear from Harrods department store. Christopher originally called the bear Edward before being renaming Winnie after he saw a orphaned Canadian black bear called Winnipeg at London Zoo. Milne created stories about Winnie-the-Pooh which were illustrated by Ernest Howard Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London's Evening News for Christmas Eve 1925.
The imagined Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin (E. H. Shepard, 1926) and the real boy and his bear in 1928
Images: Wikimedia
Pooh Corner
In 1790, a building was built at 2 Wellington Terrace on the corner of Royal York Crescent, Clifton.
Pooh Corner
Images: Google Maps
Much later the building became a tea-room and in the early 1920s, A. A. Milne and his illustrator, E. H. Shepard sketched out the characters of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.
In the 1930s, Shepard created an oil painting of Winnie, the only one he ever painted, and donated it to the tea shop, where it was on proud display for many years. The painting was sold around 2009 and is now in a museum in Winnipeg, Canada. In October 2000, the oil painting of the bear went on sale and was purchased by a group of people from Winnipeg for more than £124,000.
The bulding was converted back into a residential home in the 1950s, but was still known as Pooh Corner - the birthplace of Winnie-the-Pooh.
Sources & Resources
A. A. Milne - Wikipedia
Christopher Robin Milne - Wikipedia
E. H. Shepard - Wikipedia
Winnie-the-Pooh - Wikimedia
Winnie-the-Pooh - Wikipedia