A deal believed to be the biggest in British literary history has seen Walt Disney secure lasting rights to AA Milne's classic character Winnie the Pooh. The cartoon makers have spent $350m (£239m) to buy the honey-guzzling bear. Since they first bought the rights to the character in the 1960s, Disney has been paying twice-yearly royalties for the privilege. The new lump sum replaces that obligation, buying Disney rights to Pooh until copyright expires on the bear in 2026.
The profits from the sale will primarily benefit the Royal Literary Fund, which should receive about £90m, while the Garrick Club and Westminster School will gain about £60m each. The descendants of EH Shepard, the books' illustrator, will receive a smaller sum.
However, the widow of Christopher Robin Milne, son of the author and hero of Pooh's original adventures, will not profit by the deal. Before his death five years ago, Lesley Milne and her husband sold half their share in the royalties to the Literary Fund for £150,000, using the other half to set up a trust fund for their daughter. "Christopher was very anti-Disney," Lesley Milne told the Sunday Times this weekend. "He hated what they had done with the books and the characters. Christopher just wasn't interested in money either."
Sales of Pooh products, according to reports, have doubled over the past five years, outstripping the merchandising success even of Disney's home grown favourites, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. One Disney spokesperson says: "The bear is even mightier than the mouse."
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