History of teddy bears

History of teddy bears is not that old as we can imagine. The first teddy bear toy was invented in 1903 in Giengen, Germany by Margaret Steiff in her family’s small toy factory. Merely Margaret was afraid to frighten children, that’s why she tried to soften the toy bear’s features. At a toy festival in Leipzig, Germany this first toy bear immediately attached attention of an American toy buyer who made an order of 3000 bears at once. From this day off thousands of new bears are produced every day in different parts of the world. Steiff’s toy company even celebrated the Golden Jubilee of first toy bear with a new stylish comical young bear cub called Jackie Baby in 1953. Inspired by this event Colonel Bob Henderson launched a Teddy Bear Club in 1962. In 1986, the first teddy bear museum was opened in Berlin, Germany. The English Teddy Bear Museum was opened in 1988 in Shakespeare’s home town Stratford-upon-Avon.

History is full of amazing facts about teddies. For example, in 1912, after the sinking of the RMS Titanic, Steiff’s German toy company created a black bear and gave as a mourning gift to all those people who had lost their loved ones on the Titanic. In the USA, November 14 was announced as American Teddy Bear Day. The first animated Winnie-the Pooh produced in 1975 by Walt Disney became a classic forever. In Russia, the Olympic committee chose Misha “the smiling, small, cuddly bear cub” as the mascot of 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Prince Charles of England always took his favourite teddy bear to school with him; at his 4th birthday party his favourite song “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” was played.