100 years of Winnie the Pooh — its Canadian origins, explained

It's been a century since Winnie the Pooh was first brought to life, and the beloved bear has been a household name ever since. But before Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie. His origins tell a distinctly Canadian story. So you'll be fighting in France tomorrow, hmm? Well, good luck, Captain Caldwell. Oh, and you can be sure we'll take very good care of the bear. You are noting that it's the official mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade? Yes, sir. So long, Winnie. You be a good girl while I'm gone. Why Winnie, sir? From my hometown, Winnipeg. Oh, Daddy, I just love Winnie. Couldn't we take him home with us? Christopher Robin, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll write some stories about Winnie, and Mr. Shepherd here will draw some pictures. Oh, Daddy, let's call him Winnie the Pooh. Why Pooh, son? I don't know. Just Winnie, sir. Now, that story is also found in the book Finding Winnie, the true story of the world's most famous bear. Lindsey Maddock is the author and joins us now along with her daughter Claudia Davidson, Lindsey Claudia, good morning to you both. Good morning now, Lindsey, I'm glad to have you but uh this is a family affair for you not just because the two of you are with us this morning you actually have a connection can you explain that to me, Lindsey? I can so my great-grandfather who was portrayed in the video I think you just showed um my great-grandfather was a he emigrated from England And he became a veterinarian in Canada because he loved animals. And at the start of the First World War in 1914, he enlisted with a Winnipeg-based regiment. And while he was en route to war, he stopped at a train station and there was a trapper. And the trapper had killed a bear cub. And my great-grandfather, who loved animals, bought the bear cub, named her Winnipeg, Winnie for short. And she went on to, he realized at the front lines that he was not going to be able to leave her there. It wasn't safe. so he brought her to the London Zoo and that's where A.A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin fell in love with Winnie and he started to write stories about her. Now Claudia I have to ask you what is it like to know your great-great-grandfather had this connection with the original Winnie the Pooh? It's pretty crazy because the bear would actually let like you do stuff with it and it's not like normal bears and that's kind of crazy to have a real connection with a bear do you think Claudia, your mom would let you have a pet bear? Definitely not yeah probably probably not a good idea yeah probably true probably true look uh you delve in in in your book uh uh lindsey looking at just some of the logistics of having a bear a bear as as he's heading off to war what do you feed a bear during the transatlantic voyage when you get to london how do they deal with all of that yeah it's a great question um there was definitely berries there was um there was like kind of like a condensed milk um those are a couple of things i know were fed as far as the full bear diet i probably should know more um but i do think that the logistics must have been kind of a big part of it it was a big journey he got on the train with her they took a ship across the Atlantic for two weeks um there's photographs of her quite literally like living in the tents um with him so I think you know there was definitely lots of mascots um during during lots of wars um and bears were one of them but uh it would have been a big a big lift that's for sure now Claudia your mom wrote a book about Winnie the Bear Winnie the Pooh the original bear the real bear but how many of the Winnie the Pooh books do you have two two of them yeah Yeah. Do you read them? Yeah. And who's your favorite character in the Winnie the Pooh books? Winnie the Pooh. Yeah. Good answer. Good answer. Mom, what do you think it is about Winnie the Pooh that has survived as a story for now a century on this very day? I think that there is a magic in those stories that still holds up a hundred years later. I think that we all, there's a universal quality we all kind of have a poo or rabbit or a piglet or an er in our lives and the adventures that they have the friendship that they have i think are stories that still sort of stand up and i think in some ways are kind of even more important now because we are living in pretty busy hectic lives and i think those stories remind us to sort of slow down and be present and and just kind of enjoy the gift and the adventure that friendship is very well said Lindsey very good to meet you and very good to meet you too Claudia have a great day i'm guessing you're going to school hope they'll have a Winnie the Pooh book couple minutes thanks so much thank you bye bye bye