In his new book, Gyles Brandreth both explores - and explains - the phenomenon of Winnie-the-Pooh and tells the remarkable story of A A Milne, a playwright, a poet, a polemicist and humorist.

This is both a book about Winnie-the-Pooh - his genesis, his life across a hundred years, the essence of Pooh's special philosophy and the reasons for his worldwide popularity - and the intimate biography of three generations of an unusual, fascinating and troubled family who knew fame and fortune, for many years despising both, but ultimately finding a profound reason to be grateful for the millions Pooh brought them.