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My best friend is a paramedic. When he was new at the job he was in the back of an ambulance with a hurt child. The kid asked my friend to sing to him to take his mind off the trauma. My friend broke out into the only children’s song he knew: the story of Winnie the Pooh. It’s based on a real bear.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: August 24, 1914--
On the eve of World War I, Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian, was traveling by train from his hometown of Winnipeg to the Atlantic coast to catch a ship for Europe to face battle. During a stop in Ontario on August 24, 1914, he encountered a hunter who had killed a black bear, only to discover the bear had a cub. Knowing the bear was doomed to die, Colebourn said hey I’ll give you $20 for the cub. “Sold!” said the hunter. Named “Winnipeg Bear” for his home, and later shortened to Winnie, the bear cub tagged along with Colebourn on the ship bound for England.
While there, Winnie became something of a mascot to the Canadian soldiers of cavalry regiment Fort Gary Horse camped in Salisbury Plains. When they weren’t training for the front lines in France, they played with her. Yes, I know the cartoon bear is male, but the original Winnie from Canada was female.
Colebourn kept Winnie at the London Zoo. He served three years in the war as a cavalry veterinarian, attaining the rank of major. Winnie attained the rank of internationally beloved bear thanks to the creative efforts of A.A. Milne. Colebourn frequently visited Winnie at the zoo while on leave, and had intended to bring her back to Canada with him after the war, but when he saw how beloved the bear was by children visiting the zoo, he decided it was best for her to remain in London. One of the children who became enamored of Winnie was Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne.
ChrisRob loved Winnie so much he named his own teddy bear Winnie, adding “the Pooh” because his friend had a pet swan named Pooh so why the fuck why not? Also, a fucking swan for a pet? That makes less sense than a bear. Swans are basically geese, and geese are fucking evil. You thought I was gonna get through this one without swearing, didn’t you? But then the motherfucking geese showed up. Anyway …
A.A. Milne, inspired by his son’s adoration of Winnie, published Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926, creating what would become one of the most beloved children’s characters of all time. The real Winnie lived at the London Zoo until her death in 1934.
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