When the soldiers headed to France, Winnie was moved to London Zoo.
TV personality and author Gyles Brandreth was a friend of Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne, who visited Winnie at the zoo and named his teddy bear after her, which led to the famous friendship in the books.
“According to A.A. Milne, he and Christopher Robin were on holiday somewhere where there was a lake, and on the lake there was a swan,” Brandreth said.
“They couldn’t persuade the swan to come and be fed by them. The swan ignored them, and so eventually they ignored the swan. They went away saying, ‘oh, pooh, swan, pooh’. So that’s how you get Winnie-the-Pooh.”
Brandreth said Winnie “was an instant hit with visitors” at the zoo and when Colbourn returned to take her back to Canada, her popularity made him decide to let her stay instead.