The original Winnie the Pooh, 1914
We all know Winnie the Pooh as a fictional bear with a chubby belly, who likes to eat honey and hangs out with a varied group of animal friends. However, Winnie the Pooh isn’t just the name of the fictional childhood character, but a real bear. Back in the early 1920s, Winnie was the most popular bear at the London Zoo.
This photo was taken at 1914, depicting cavalry veterinarian Harry Colebourn who rescued Winnie when she was a cub and brought her to England. A. A. Milne, the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, used to visit the zoo where the bear lived, and he named his world-famous teddy bear after Winnie (“Pooh” was the name of a swan the family had encountered on a holiday).