Winnie-the-Pooh: how the gentle bear left a complicated legacy
Thu Feb 05 2026
Winnie-the-Pooh, the Bear of Very Little Brain, has been entertaining children for a century this year, but for Pooh's creator, A. A. Milne, the character brought a complicated joy. Milne's real-life son, Christopher Robin, became estranged from his father partly because of the burden of Pooh's fame, and Milne also came to resent how his children's literature obscured the rest of his professional writing.
Guest: Gyles Brandreth, broadcaster, former politician, and author of Somewhere, A Boy And A Bear: A Biography of A. A. Milne and Winnie-The-PoohProducer: Alex Tighe
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Winnie-the-Pooh, the Bear of Very Little Brain, has been entertaining children for a century this year, but for Pooh's creator, A. A. Milne, the character brought a complicated joy. Milne's real-life son, Christopher Robin, became estranged from his father partly because of the burden of Pooh's fame, and Milne also came to resent how his children's literature obscured the rest of his professional writing. Guest: Gyles Brandreth, broadcaster, former politician, and author of Somewhere, A Boy And A Bear: A Biography of A. A. Milne and Winnie-The-PoohProducer: Alex Tighe