A real black bear skull sits in London's Hunterian Museum, its teeth ruined by decades of honey fed to it by a boy named Christopher Robin. That bear, Winnie, was bought for $20 by Canadian veterinarian Harry Colebourn in 1914 and became a regimental mascot before being left at the London Zoo. This episode traces how a zoo bear, a swan named Pooh, and a Harrods teddy bear combined into one of the most recognizable characters in history, and how A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard built the Hundred Acre Wood from the real Ashdown Forest.

From there the story turns to commerce and conflict. Stephen Slesinger bought the U.S. merchandising rights in 1930 for a $1,000 advance, added the famous red shirt in 1932, and built a $50 million-a-year business during the Depression. Disney took over in 1961 and grew it to nearly $6 billion in annual  ...