In August 1921, Daphne Milne, the wife of author and playwright A A Milne bought a teddy bear for her son\'s first birthday.It was an english made Farnell teddy bear from Harrods. The teddy bear was exactly the same size as the baby,Christopher Robin. Christopher treasured his teddy bear, he called him Edward, Teddy, or Big Bear and  as he played with his toys he talked to them and in listening to his son\'s play conversations, his father was inspired to write poems and stories. In his most famous book, Edward was given a new name, Winnie-the-Pooh.  Where did that name come from? It was borrowed from a Canadian bear and an English swan. The real bear\'s story began in Canada in 1914. A young army officer was travelling from Winnipeg to Quebec to join his brigade, when he was changing trains in rural White River he noticed a hunter with a small bear cub tied to the arm of a bench, the young lieutenant, who had a special interest in animals paid twenty dollars for the orphaned cub and named her Winnie, after Winnipeg. When they arrived in Quebec, she became the mascot of the brigade. Several months later, when the soliders were shipped to England and then France to fight in World War 1 the lieutenant left Winnie at the London Zoo for safekeeping. The bear was extremely popular because she was so gentle. One of her many visitors was Christopher Milne who was allowed to feed Winnie by hand and  even hug her. Christopher also liked to feed a swan that lived in Kensington Gardens. He called him Pooh. As his father pointed out, it was a good name for a swan "because, if you call him and he doesn\'t come (which is a thing swans are good at), then you can pretend that you were just saying\'Pooh!\'.  So, the names of "Winnie" and "Pooh" were combined and given to Edward Bear.  Today, he sits in a glass case in the Donnell branch of the New York Public Library. He looks a little worn and bald in places, but visitors agree that he is one of the most adored teddy bears in the world.