When Christopher Robin Milne was given a Farnell teddy bear form Harrods, he didn't realise how much it would change his life. He named it after a real Canadian bear at London Zoo, Winifred-or Winnie for short. And Winnie the Pooh was born. His father A.A. Milne created a series of books around his son's toy bear and its friends, not realizing that this would destroy his relationship with his child. Or that Pooh himself would become a jetsetter, emigrating to America where he remains today except for a short visit back to his old home in Hartfield, Sussex, where he was to meet Shirley Harrison, the author who was to write his biography over 30 years later. This, then, is the story of the real Winnie the Pooh, the actual bear on whom Milne based his book. For the first time, those involved with the Milne family tell their stories and share their previously unpublished photos, including the day when Winnie the Pooh came home-and played Pooh Sticks. AUTHOR: Shirley Harrison began professional life as a reporter on the Walthamstow Guardian. As a school girl she broadcast on Uncle Mac's Children's Hour and the BBC ?Younger Generation?. In the sixties, Shirley joined an advertising company in London working on national fashion accounts and then went on to start her own PR and Feature writing company working with stars such as Twiggy, Julie Christie and Jean Simmons. When Shirley moved with her first husband to Sussex she founded one of the first pre-school Playgrounds in the country at the same time as writing articles for national newspapers and magazines. SELLING POINTS: ? The story of the real teddy bear on whom A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh was based from a teddy bear factory in Acton, discovered on the shelf in Harrods and taken to live in Sussex with Christopher Robin to international fame and his new home in a children's library in New York ? A tragic tale of broken families and stolen identities ? And a heart-warming tale of a cuddly teddy bear that was transformed into one of the most famous bears of all time: Winnie the Pooh ? Original interviews and photographs of those who knew the Milne family and secret stories about Winnie the Pooh which are being revealed for the very first time ILLUSTRATIONS 80 images *
