John Kirby Farnell or J. K. Farnell was a London company which manufactured the first British teddy bear in 1906.
John Kirby Farnell or J. K. Farnell was a London company which manufactured the first British teddy bear in 1906.
Founded in Notting Hill, the firm was started in 1840 by a silk merchant, John Kirby Farnell, and made items such as pin cushions and tea cosies. After Farnell's death, his children, Henry and Agnes, continued the business from Acton in West London.
They produced soft toys, moving from rabbit skin to mohair. Farnell rapidly became one of the leading teddy bear manufacturers, registering the Alpha trademark in 1925. "The Teddy Bear Encyclopedia" states that the Alpha Bear inspired the creation of Winnie the Pooh - Christopher Robin Milne (son of the Winnie the Pooh books' author A. A. Milne and basis of the character Christopher Robin) owned one of the Alpha Bears. [1]
The company premises were destroyed by fire in 1934 and by bombing in 1940. It finally ceased trading in the 1960s and the Farnell name was taken over by Merrythought in 1996. [2]
The first Farnell bears closely resembled their German Steiff counterparts, having pointed muzzles, long limbs, humpbacks and webbed toes. Early Farnell bears also had boot-button eyes which were replaced by painted glass ones. The soles were of felt and reinforced with cardboard.
Alan Alexander Milne was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-the-Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. Milne served in both World Wars, as a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the First World War and as a captain in the Home Guard in the Second World War.
Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney adaptations of the Pooh stories.
Roo is a fictional character created in 1926 by A. A. Milne and first featured in the book Winnie-the-Pooh. He is a young kangaroo and his mother is Kanga. Like most other Pooh characters, Roo is based on a stuffed toy animal that belonged to Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne. Though stuffed, Roo was lost in the 1930s in an apple orchard somewhere in Sussex.
Winnie-the-Pooh is a 1926 children's book by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The book is set in the fictional Hundred Acre Wood, with a collection of short stories following the adventures of an anthropomorphic teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, and his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo. It is the first of two story collections by Milne about Winnie-the-Pooh, the second being The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne and Shepard collaborated previously for English humour magazine Punch, and in 1924 created When We Were Very Young, a poetry collection. Among the characters in the poetry book was a teddy bear Shepard modelled after his son's toy. Following this, Shepard encouraged Milne to write about his son Christopher Robin Milne's toys, and so they became the inspiration for the characters in Winnie-the-Pooh.
The House at Pooh Corner (1928) is the second volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. It is notable for the introduction of the character Tigger.
Christopher Robin Milne was an English author and bookseller and the only child of author A. A. Milne. As a child, he was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father's Winnie-the-Pooh stories and in two books of poems.
The Book of Pooh is an American children's television series that aired on the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on A. A. Milne's works; the other two were the live action Welcome to Pooh Corner and the animated The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which ran from 1988 to 1991. It premiered on January 22, 2001 and completed its run on November 29, 2004. It was repeated on Playhouse Disney until June 2, 2006. The show is produced by Shadow Projects. Walt Disney Pictures released the first of two films, a direct-to-video spin-off film based on the puppetry television series titled The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart in 2001.
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree is a 1966 American animated featurette based on the first two chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution on February 4, 1966 as a double feature with The Ugly Dachshund. It was the last short film produced by Walt Disney, who died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, ten months after its release. Its songs were written by the Sherman Brothers and the score was composed and conducted by Buddy Baker.
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day is a 1968 American animated featurette based on the third, fifth, ninth, and tenth chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters from The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. The featurette was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company on December 20, 1968 as a double feature with the live-action comedy feature The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. This was the second of the studio's Winnie the Pooh theatrical featurettes. It was later added as a segment to the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The music was written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. It was notable for being the last Disney animated short to be produced by Walt Disney, who died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, two years before its release.
Winnipeg, or Winnie, was the name given to a female black bear that lived at London Zoo from 1915 until her death in 1934. Rescued by cavalry veterinarian Harry Colebourn, Winnie is best-remembered for inspiring A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's character, Winnie-the-Pooh.
Winnie the Pooh is a fictional teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne, is one of the most popular characters adapted for film and television by The Walt Disney Company. Disney first received certain licensing rights to the Winnie the Pooh stories, characters, and trademarks from Stephen Slesinger, Inc. and the estate of A. A. Milne in 1961.
When We Were Very Young is a best-selling book of poetry by A. A. Milne. It was first published in 1924, and it was illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Several of the verses were set to music by Harold Fraser-Simson. The book begins with an introduction entitled "Just Before We Begin", which, in part, tells readers to imagine for themselves who the narrator is, and that it might be Christopher Robin. The 38th poem in the book, "Teddy Bear", that originally appeared in Punch magazine in February 1924, was the first appearance of the famous character Winnie-the-Pooh, first named "Mr. Edward Bear" by Christopher Robin Milne. In one of the illustrations of "Teddy Bear", Winnie-the-Pooh is shown wearing a shirt which was later coloured red when reproduced on a recording produced by Stephen Slesinger. This has become his standard appearance in the Disney adaptations. On 1 January 2020, When We Were Very Young entered the public domain in the United States, but remains protected in other countries, including the UK.
Harry D. Colebourn was a Canadian veterinarian and soldier with the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps best known for donating a bear cub named "Winnie" to London Zoo. Winnie later inspired the creation of A. A. Milne's famous children's book character Winnie-the-Pooh.
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.
Winnie the Pooh is a media franchise produced by The Walt Disney Company, based on A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's stories featuring Winnie-the-Pooh. It started in 1966 with the theatrical release of the short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.
Christopher Robin is a 2018 American live-action/animated fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Marc Forster and written by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, and Allison Schroeder, from a story by Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson. The film is inspired by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's Winnie-the-Pooh children's books and is a live-action/CGI follow-up of the Disney franchise of the same name. The film stars Ewan McGregor as the title character, alongside Hayley Atwell as his wife Evelyn, with the voices of Jim Cummings and Brad Garrett. The story follows Christopher Robin, now an adult, who has lost his sense of imagination, only to be reunited with his childhood friend Winnie the Pooh, who he must escort back to the Hundred Acre Wood.
R. John Wright Dolls is an art doll making workshop located in Bennington, Vermont. Established in 1976, R. John Wright Dolls (RJW) is a privately held company founded by R. John Wright.
Goodbye Christopher Robin is a 2017 British biographical drama film about the lives of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A. A. Milne and his family, especially his son Christopher Robin. It was directed by Simon Curtis and written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Simon Vaughan, and stars Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, and Kelly Macdonald. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on 29 September 2017. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $7.2 million at the box office.
Winnie-the-Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World is the second authorised sequel to A. A. Milne's original Winnie-the-Pooh stories. It was published on 6 October 2016 to mark the 90th anniversary of the publication of the first Winnie-the-Pooh book. The sequel is an anthology of four short stories, each written by a leading children's author. The four contributors are Paul Bright, Jeanne Willis, Kate Saunders, and Brian Sibley. The illustrations, in the style of the originals by E. H. Shepard, are by Mark Burgess. The book attracted national press coverage because of the introduction of a new character, Penguin.
Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen is a 2016 children's book written to celebrate the 90th birthdays of both the fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh and Queen Elizabeth II in 2016. The Queen celebrated her 90th Official Birthday on 11 June, although her actual birthday is 21 April 1926. The first Winnie-the-Pooh book, written by A. A. Milne, was published in October 1926. This original story imagines a meeting between Pooh and Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. The text was written by Jane Riordan while illustrations were by Mark Burgess in the style of the original drawings by E. H. Shepard.
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