Gyles Brandreth
Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear

Friday 19 June 2026, 2.30pm
Chelmsford Cathedral, New Street, Chelmsford, CM1 1TY

2026 marks the centenary of the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh, one of the best-selling children’s books of all time.  Best-selling biographer Gyles Brandreth knew the real Christopher Robin and his new book is both an intimate and revealing biography of A A Milne (to whom there was so much more than Pooh) and a fascinating exploration of fathers and sons, children and their parents and the nature of childhood itself.

‘Gyles Brandreth has a touching access to the secrets of the human heart.’

– The Times

2026 is also the centenary of Elizabeth II.  Gyles Brandreth is also the author of the number one Sunday Times best seller Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, and the late Queen had a special interest in Winnie the Pooh which Gyles may be talking about too!

Tickets: £15 / £12 concessions (students, under 27s and unwaged)
Box Office: essexbookfestival.org.uk or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948

Event Information

💬 The event will include an audience Q&A session.
📚 Copies of the book will be available to purchase on the day.
🖊️ After the event there will be an opportunity to get the book signed by the author.
🪑 Seats are unallocated.
☕ Refreshments will be available to buy at this event – cash and card payments taken
🚗 Chelmsford Cathedral is a 5 minute walk from the train station and bus station. The Cathedral does not have its own car park but there are a number of public car parks within a short walking distance: https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/parking-and-travel/car-parks/.
♿ The venue is wheelchair accessible. There are disabled facilities on site.
📸 We will be filming and taking photos at this event.

Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth has been fascinated by the world of Winnie-the-Pooh since he was a small boy being brought up in London a few streets away from the house of Pooh’s creator, A A Milne. In the 1980s Gyles began researching the life of A A Milne and became friends with Milne’s only son, the real Christopher Robin. That friendship has led to this book. And to his surprise, the research for the book has led him to Jamaica and the USA, as well as Buckingham Palace and the Ashdown Forest.

Gyles Brandreth’s best-selling books include biographies of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, as well as the actor Sir John Gielgud and the Victorian music-hall star, Dan Leno. He is the author of seven Victorian murder mysteries (featuring Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle as his detectives), two volumes of diaries and an acclaimed childhood memoir, Odd Boy Out.

As well as a writer, he is a broadcaster, podcaster, trustee of The Queen’s Reading Room charity, former MP, Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the University of Chester, probably best known for his appearances on shows like Just a Minute, Countdown, QI, Celebrity Gogglebox, Would I Lie to You? and This Morning.

As an actor he has appeared as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Claudius in Hamlet and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Since 2017 he has been appearing on stage with Dame Judi Dench in a show celebrating her life and on tour throughout the country with his own one-man show. An award-winning podcaster, he hosts the multi-million-download Top Ten podcast Rosebud exploring the first memories and childhoods of remarkable people.

Website: www.gylesbrandreth.net

Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: A Biography of A A Milne, Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh

Gyles Brandreth both explores – and explains – the phenomenon of Winnie-the-Pooh and tells the remarkable story of A A Milne, a playwright, a crime writer, a poet, a polemicist and humorist.

When Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared in print on Christmas Eve 1925, his creator had no idea that this bear, and the fellow inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood, would go on to capture the imaginations of people of all ages all over the world for the next hundred years.

In this new biography Gyles Brandreth tells the remarkable story of A A Milne – and of the ‘bear of very little brain’ who went on to become a global phenomenon.

Drawing on his friendship with Milne’s son, the real Christopher Robin, Gyles Brandreth has produced a revealing and intimate portrait of a prolific author whose legacy came to be defined by his most famous creation, and of the divided Milne family who for many years had a conflicted relationship with the iconic bear.

This is the story of a man, a boy and a bear – but it is also a gripping family drama, and a fascinating exploration of the complicated nature of growing up, and the impossible longing for a return to the enchanted places of childhood.

Order a copy of the book from bookshop.org.

A Compelling Storyteller

As a royal biographer, the author of a Sunday Times bestselling poetry anthology and as the nation’s greatly loved broadcaster, Gyles Brandreth is the ultimate author to tell the tale of Winnie-the-Pooh and the man behind the iconic bear. Brandreth is also the founder of the award winning teddy bear museum at Newby Hall, The Bear House

Unrivalled Access

In the 1980s Gyles Brandreth wrote a play about the Milne family during which became friends with the real Christopher Robin and his wife, Lesley, and began to discover the complex story of Christopher Robin’s parents

Centenary Publication

The book will coincide with Winnie-the-Pooh’s 100th birthday – for which Gyles has campaigned to have Christopher Robbin’s original childhood toys to be returned to England from the New York Public Library

Exciting and Diverse Characters

With an extraordinary cast list (including Winston Churchill, Elizabeth II and Walt Disney), love affairs and litigation, idyllic games of Pooh sticks and heart-rending family rifts, this is the remarkable story of one of Britain’s most brilliant yet least known writers and of his most famous creation.