Paddington Bear

I Digress

2 Apr

Today we digress from Notting Hill and Portobello Road to talk about a fluffy little bear from deepest, darkest Peru: Paddington Bear.

How Paddington was created

Michael Bond, the guy who would go on to create Padding Bear, was born in England in January 1926. It wasn’t until 1945 though, that Bond started writing and had some success when he sold his first short story to the London Opinion magazine.

But it was while working for the BBC as a cameraman that Bond first came up with idea for Paddington. Here’s what he recalls about the start of the Paddington story:

I bought a small toy bear on Christmas Eve 1956. I saw it left on a shelf in a London store and felt sorry for it. I took it home as a present for my wife Brenda and named it Paddington as we were living near Paddington Station at the time. I wrote some stories about the bear, more for fun than with the idea of having them published. After ten days I found that I had a book in my hands. It wasn’t written specifically for children, but I think I put into it the kind of things I liked reading about when I was young.

After sending this book to his agent, the story was sent to several publishers before being picked up by William Collins and Sons, a publishing house that now goes by the name of Harper Collins.

After commissioning an illustrator, Peggy Fortnum, the very first book titled A Bear Called Paddington was published in October 1958. And this first book was pretty successful, because Bond went on to write an entire series about the Bear, and by 1965 Bond’s writing gig was so successful he was able to give up his BBC job and write Paddington stories fulltime. Now that’s the dream.

During the Second World War, when London was being bombed, a time known as ‘the Blitz’, children were being evacuated out of London and into the countryside where it was hoped they would be safe. And it’s these children turning up at a station with the hope that a stranger would take them in that partly inspired the Paddington story. Here’s what Michael Bond said about the situation when he spoke to The Guardian in 2014:

…they all had a label round their neck with their name and address on and a little case or package containing all their treasured possessions. So Paddington, in a sense, was a refugee, and I do think that there’s no sadder sight than refugees.

Bond did seem to have several similar inspirations for Paddington. There were the children fleeing London and seeking safety in the British countryside, but there was also the Kindertransport, a rescue effort that saw Jewish children brought to Britain from nazi-occupied territories throughout Europe.

Regardless of his early origins, in Paddington Bond created an enduring object of sympathy and an experience and struggle that was relatable to those new arrivals.

And Paddington could not have been more successful. Since the first publication of the Paddington books, there have been over 35 million copies of Paddington sold around the world, and you can read Paddington’s story in over 40 languages, you can even give Latin a go for those so inclined.

But Michael Bond didn’t just stop at Paddington stories, he’s written many children loving characters. There’s a tv series called ‘The Herbs’, then there’s the books about a guinea pig that goes by Olga de Polga, and we can’t forget the novels directed to a more grown up audience that follow a French detective turned food guide inspector. Now that one sounds intriguing.

Back in 1997, Michael Bond was awarded an OBE for services to children’s literature and then a little later in 2015 he received a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. So his writing efforts were definitely appreciated, both by the crown and the millions and millions of readers and watchers.

Sadly Michael Bond passed in 2017, and despite being 91, it’s reported that he continued writing right up until the end.

The Paddington Story

So what is the Paddington Story? What are the adventures that Paddington Bear goes on?

Even though Paddington currently lives in London, he originally came from Peru, where his Aunt Lucy raised him after he was orphaned by an earthquake when he was just a little bear cub. But when Aunt Lucy decided to go live in the House for Retired Bears in Lima, Peru’s capital, she sent Paddington to live in England. So naturally after teaching Paddington to speak perfect English, he was stowed away in a ship’s lifeboat until he arrived in England, where he found himself at his namesake, Paddington Station.

It was while sitting on his suitcase near the lost property office, with only an old bush hat and a label around his neck that read ‘Please look after this Bear. Thank you.’, that Paddington was found by Mr and Mrs Brown. Taking him in, the Brown’s brought Paddington home to live with them at 32 Windsor Gardens. It’s here that we meet their two children, Jonathan and Judy, and Mrs Bird, the housekeeper.

While Paddington was originally named after his uncle in Peru, Uncle Pastuso, the Browns decided to give him the new name of Paddington after the station where he was found. They also weren’t too sure how old he was, so they decided to start again at one and that he should have two birthdays, just like the Queen. So Paddington celebrates one birthday on the 25th June and the other on the 25th December.

Now Paddington doesn’t just hang out at home all day, his close friend Mr Gruber owns an antiques shop in Portobello Road and Paddington loves to join Mr Gruber for ‘their elevenses of buns and cocoa’. And it’s to Mr Gruber Paddington usually turns when he has a problem and needs some help and advice.

Unfortunately, everything isn’t always fun for Paddington, the Browns’ next door neighbour, Mr Curry, isn’t very nice and is always trying to take advantage of Paddington. But Paddington always turns up on top because of his willingness to help people and the love he has for his friends.

If you ever see Paddington walking down the street, you’ll be able to recognise him by his hat, which is usually red but not always, the suitcase he carries with his initials on the side, the blue duffel coat he wears, the Wellington’s on his feet if it’s been raining, and of course, his love for a good marmalade sandwich.

Paddington is never seen without a jar of marmalade in his suitcase and a marmalade sandwich under his hat ‘in case of emergencies’.

I think you might already know this, but Paddington is a very polite bear. He’s extremely well-meaning but his trusting nature can sometimes get him into some trouble. But watch out if you upset Paddington, you might just get one of his hard stares.

Paddington’s Legacy

Paddington’s been around for a while now, and he’s been in so many things. So let’s talk about the legacy of Paddington Bear.

Paddington is a pretty popular bear, and you can find him almost everywhere, he’s on TV, in movies, in books, Paddington’s even on twitter. Paddington’s so helpful that he works with a number of different children’s charities around the world, including UNICEF.

If you wish to see Paddington Bear, but don’t know where to find him you can see a life-sized bronze statue of him at Paddington Station just under the clock on Platform 1, which is the spot he met the Brown Family in his film. There’s even a shop nearby where you can grab all sorts of Paddington memorabilia.

Now Paddington first walked onto a tv screen back in 1975, when he was doing 30 five-minute programmes. Back then Paddington was shown in a stop-start animation, which was unusual for the time because they used a 3D Paddington with 2D backgrounds, even the other characters were 2D. Then Paddington became award winning in 1979, when a second series was released and won silver at the New York Film and Television Festival. Paddington winning this award was ground-breaking because it was the first British animated series ever to win such a major award.

At this time Paddington was just hitting his stride because he then went on to do 3 half-hour tv specials. Then, about 9 years later, an animated cartoon series about Paddington was made in the US. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s, that a brand new, fully animated cartoon was brought out by a Canadian company. These new cartoon episodes were initially based on the books from Michael Bond, but they also added in new storylines to keep Paddington fresh.

But while you may not know Paddington from his tv appearances, you will probably know him as a teddy bear. Shirley Clarkson, had the honour of making the very first Paddington Bear soft toy, when she made one for her two children, Joanna and Jeremy.

Now this Jeremy is actually the very same, controversial, motoring journalist, Jeremy Clarkson. But let’s not digress too much from our digression.

So many people loved the bears that Shirley had made for her children that they asked if she could make some for their kids, and soon enough Shirley’s company, Gabrielle Designs, was granted an official licence to sell the bears in 1972, the very first Paddington product licence.

Paddington at this time was starting to get pretty popular all around the world, and in 1975 another UK toy company, Eden Toys, managed to grab hold of a licence to make and sell Paddington Bears in other countries. But the main difference between the Eden Toys bears and Gabrielle Designs bears is the Eden Toys ones were mass produced in factories in Asia, whereas the Gabrielle Designs bears were all handmade in the UK. Which means that if you have a Gabrielle Designs Paddington Bear, you my friend, my just have a collector’s item on your hands.

While Gabrielle Designs and Eden Toys are no longer around, you can still get your hands on all sorts of Paddington Bears all around the world, especially if you find yourself in the Paddington shop at Paddington Station.

More recently we’ve seen Paddington having tea with the Queen at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The clip of Paddington being a clumsy bear and the Queen showing she also keeps a marmalade sandwich for emergencies in her handbag, was an instant pop culture phenomenon and it was still fresh in people’s minds when the Queen passed away in September of 2022.

James Lamont, who worked on the Paddington films and co-wrote the sketch of Paddington and the Queen, said this about the clip:

We knew Paddington and the Queen stood for, and still stand for, certain similar values – the idea that, be kind and polite and the world will be alright. It just felt very natural that those two could share a space together … We also thought there was some inherent comedy in the idea of Paddington, who we know is a bit of a klutz and a bit of a bull in a china shop at times – putting him in Buckingham Palace in front of the Queen, where etiquette and behaviour are obviously paramount.

Paddington sure did elicit a laugh and a smile, even from the Queen herself. Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who had worked with the Queen, both on her appearance with James Bond for the 2012 Olympics and for the Paddington sketch, said that

It wasn’t an easy task for her to act opposite a character who was not there, only being inserted later using CGI … [But] she pulled it off brilliantly. It was amazing. She’s absolutely glowing in that moment … [and to put in] a brilliantly-timed comic performance … I don’t think any of us could truly have anticipated the level to which she absolutely smashed it.

Before the jubilee, Paddington wasn’t really associated at all with the Queen. And their pairing right at the end of the Queen’s life seemed to really stick in people’s minds. Here’s Frank again:

It was significant, I think, and that’s why it’s resonated so much.

Karen Jankel, the daughter of Michael Bond, was amazed to see how many people turned to Paddington Bear for comfort following the death of the Queen:

One of the last times most of us saw the Queen close up was when she did that marvellous sketch during the Jubilee celebrations. That was the final image of the Queen for many people – that’s what they remember, and so they associate her with Paddington.

And it was this association that saw many people placing Paddington teddies, drawings of the Queen with Paddington and even marmalade sandwiches as a tribute to the Queen. There were so many that the Royal Parks were asking mourners to not leave any more. Here’s what Karen Jankel thought about the whole thing:

If somebody told me a year ago that the Queen was sadly going to die, and when she did, that Paddington would be a very large part of it, I would be utterly amazed.

It seemed that Paddington really was now tied with the Queen. The BBC even broadcast the Paddington film following the coverage of the monarch’s funeral.

Jankel thinks that her father would have been fairly overwhelmed and humbled to have seen his creation in association with the Queen.

Paddington was his creation, and to think that now people all around the world are associating [him with] what is a terribly sad occasion. But actually, that introduction of Paddington has lifted everybody’s spirits, and I think that would have pleased him.

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