We get to the bottom of the great Winnie the Pooh girl / boy mystery

We had always pegged our favourite honey-loving bear Winnie the Pooh as a boy. So you can imagine our shock when news sites and social media all over the world circulated the story that Winnie was actually a girl. Whoops, we thought, how could we have got it so wrong?

Then we got to thinking – hmm, perhaps it all makes sense. Winnie does have many female characteristics.

We tried to rationalise it:

1. Probably the most obvious giveaway – the name. Winnie isn't typically a boy's name is it?

2. The uncontrollable urge to gorge on sweet foods. That would be 99.9% of women. We could relate.

3. The red crop top. Crop tops are all the rage with the young ‘uns these days don’t you know?

Just when we were coming to terms with the shock news and trying to adjust, it turned out we were actually wrong – well sort of.

Winnie the Pooh was inspired by a real-life female bear called Winnie who was sent to London Zoo from Canada during World War I. Winnie creator A.A Milne’s son Christopher Robin also had a bear called Winnie, who he named after the real-life Winnie. Phew, you got that?

So the mystery is put to rest: real Winnie is a girl, fictional book and telly Winnie is a boy.