Milne and Shepard's Winnie the Pooh, 1926

Philatelists of all ages may remember this song - "Deep in the 100 Acre Wood where Christopher Robin plays, you'll find the enchanted neighborhood of Christopher's childhood days...". And who was to be found in that enchanted neighborhood? Why Winnie the Pooh of course, that wisest and most foolish of bears! When International Stamp Month will be celebrated in October 1996, Winnie's familiar face was featured as a part of a commemorative booklet and souvenir sheet on a set of domestic-rate stamps. In this release, Pooh is looking sharp in his most contemporary form designed by the animation wizards at Disney Studios. Some will remember his earlier guises drawn by Ernest Howard Shepard for A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh." But did you know that the real Winnie was a Canadian? Although this is the first Canadian stamp to use Disney's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie already has four statues erected in London, England and Canada. In 1981, the Zoological Society of London unveiled a statue of Winnie to commemorate Milne and his illustrator Ernest Shepard. An accompanying plaque gives no credit to Lt. Harry Colebourn. To rectify the situation, a second statue was presented to the London Zoo in 1995 by the people of Manitoba, with proper credit given. A statue of Winnie and Lt. Colebourn was erected in Winnipeg 1992, and White River, Ontario erected a Disney-type statue of Winnie sitting in a tree with his cherished honey pot in hand. In addition, a Shepard-type Winnie was featured when Great Britain issued four stamps in 1979 to commemorate children's book during the International Year of the Child. And for Stamp Month 1996, 82 years after Lt. Colebourn originally befriended a little cub at a Canadian train station, Canada honours the world's best-loved bear! The four stamps making up the Winnie the Pooh set were designed in animation-style in collaboration with Walt Disney Company (Canada) Limited. They will be the subject of very special unveilings.