Happy Birthday Winnie the Pooh

winnie the pooh & friends
Originally uploaded by weennee
Oops, I posted without a photo and three friends left comments, so I am posting again, with photo this time.
This gang is so cute, they deserve a photo, don't you think?
October 14 is Winnie the Pooh's birthday, with the book of that title published on that date in 1926.
Do you have a favorite Pooh character? I might choose Eeyore, he is so sad and woe be gone, and needs a friend.
Tigger is a cute fireball of energy.
I learned today that Winnie is based on a real Canadian black bear that lived in the London Zoo.
The author, A.A. Milne's son, Christopher Robin, loved to visit Winnie in the zoo and named his own teddy bear Winnie.
The black bear arrived in England in 1919 as the mascot of a brigade from Canada, which was sent to fight in World War I. When the brigade was sent to fight in France, the soldier who adopted Winnie loaned him to the zoo, where Winnie lived until his death in 1934. The solider bought the orphaned Winnie in Winnipeg, Canada, so he gained the name Winnie, as the brigade shipped out to England, and so the bear cub traveled across the sea.