Return to Hundred Acre Wood, the first new Winnie the Pooh book since The House at Pooh Corner was released in 1928, may introduce A.A. Milne’s classic characters to a whole new generation.
The book was released Monday and features ten stories by British author David Benedictus, 71, reports CBC. Mark Burgess illustrated the book, which includes all the old characters and a new addition – Lottie the Otter.
Benedictus said he tried as hard as possible to remain faithful to the world Milne created in the new book, which centres on Christopher Robin’s return from boarding school for the summer.
Milne, who died in 1956 at age 74, wrote two books about Christopher Robin and his adventures with his animal friends of the Hundred Acre Wood.
Just a day after Paul Winchell, the voice of Winnie the Pooh’s Tigger, died, John Fielder, the voice of Piglet, also passed.
Fielder died on Saturday, at age 80, in New York.
Fielder was still voicing Piglet as recently as this year in Pooh’s Heffalump Movie. He first provided the fretful, squeaky voice for Piglet in 1968.
Fiedler was hand-picked by Walt Disney himself for the role of Pooh Bear’s best friend. Disney is said to have overheard a show in which the actor appeared and said of his voice: “That’s Piglet.”
Fielder also appeared in True Grit, starring John Wayne, and A Touch of Mink with Cary Grant, as well as starring in the sci-fi TV series Star Trek.
Born in Wisconsin, Fiedler served in the Navy in the Second World War. On completing his military service he moved to New York.
Winchell, who voiced Tigger since 1968, died away early Friday in his sleep at his home in Moorpark, California.
Ventriloquist Paul Winchell, best known for voicing Tigger in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, has died at age 82.
He passed away early Friday in his sleep at his home in Moorpark, California, Burt Du Brow, a television producer and close family friend, said Saturday.
Born in 1922 in New York, Winchell contracted polio at age six but overcame speech impediments and learned to throw his own voice.
Winchell first provided the voice for the lipsing Tigger in 1968’s Academy Award winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. He last voiced Tigger in the 1999 movie, Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving.
Winchell was also a popular children’s television host and also voiced Gargamel in The Smurfs and Boomer in The Fox and the Hound.
In an interview with the Associated Press in 1988, Winchell said he rememberd his initial visit to Walt Disney studios. “Walt gave me a VIP tour of the studio. I remember people doing voices. I said, ‘Gee, that must be fun.’ And here I am.”
Well, TTFN – ta ta for now, Mr. Winchell.
