New stamps celebrate 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh

Cuddly teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh will now be able to help you send letters or postcards to your favourite people.

The Royal Mail has released a new set of stamps to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of A.A. Milne's book Winnie-the-Pooh.

The stamps show the original illustrations by Ernest Howard Shepard, first seen in 1926, as well as a birthday party scene featuring the characters from Disney's reimagined stories.

Pooh Bear, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet, Owl and Christopher Robin are all shown on the collectable stamps.

A.A. Milne's story of a fun-loving bear and his adventures first appeared in his book, When We Were Very Young, in 1924.

Later, the characters appeared again in a newspaper article in 1925 with illustrations by James Henry Dowd.

The story was inspired by Milne's son Christopher Robin and his toy teddy bear, initially called 'Edward'.

It was not until the following year that the stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and author Milne's son Christopher Robin were formally published.

The name Winnie was inspired by a bear called Winnipeg which the family had seen during a visit to London Zoo.

A.A. Milne wrote four Winnie-the-Pooh books in total. "When We Were Very Young" (1924), "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926), "Now We Are Six" (1927), and "The House at Pooh Corner" (1928)

These were illustrated by E.H. Sheppard and the characters are still iconic today, with original drawings and sketches fetching thousands of pounds at auction.

In 1961, Walt Disney Company bought the licence to produce more Winnie-the-Pooh stories and created the recognisable characters you see on the stamps today.

They started making toys and sold them in their shops and theme parks and according to the LA Times, by the 1990s, the little yellow bear was making more money for the Disney company than Mickey Mouse was.

Stories about the famous bear are still loved around the world and have been translated into around 80 languages.