In 1958, Michael Bond, a World War 2 veteran and, at that time, a BBC cameraman, published A Bear Called Paddington, the first of a series of books about the eponymous fictional bear who lives with the London family who’ve taken him in after they found him in Paddington railway station – hence the name. By 1965, the books had become such a success that Bond was able to leave his job at the BBC and concentrate on writing full-time. What accounts for the success of the Paddington stories?
Having never actually read the books, I cannot attest to them, but the British television series they spawned in 1975, made by FilmFair Ltd., was a big hit in our household when it was re-run in the 1980s. A later series was made in the 1990s by Canadian company Cinar. The simplicity of the stories and their inherent humour are a testament to Bond’s imagination. Paddington, unused to city life – he is from “darkest Peru” after all – becomes involved in various misadventures, whether it is being lost on the London underground owing to confusion about escalators or testing an extendable washing line in a busy department store, with destructive consequences.
Paddington’s appearance adds to his eccentricity. Dressed in a duffle coat and hat, he has a fondness for marmalade and often keeps a marmalade sandwich under his hat for emergencies. He also keeps a jar of marmalade in his battered, brown suitcase, from which he is rarely parted. In Peru, Paddington had been raised by his Aunt Lucy after he was orphaned at just a few weeks of age.
When Aunt Lucy goes into a retirement home, she sends Paddington to England as a stowaway on a ship, having taught him the language first. That his London family, the Browns, find him with the note attached “Please look after this bear, thank you” adds to the poignancy of his story. Indeed, I cannot help but think of the children evacuated from London and other British urban centers during World War 2 to avoid the destruction caused by German aerial bombings and Bond, as a war veteran, may well have had those images in mind.
As well as the Browns, Paddington forms a close bond with Mr. Gruber, the owner of a nearby antiques store and like Paddington, an emigrant to England, having come from Hungary. Paddington visits Mr. Gruber in his store for morning cocoa, or “elevenses,” and Paddington relies on Mr. Gruber for information or advice.
An interesting aside to the Paddington stories is that the first Paddington plush bears for merchandising were made by the parents of well-known British television personality Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear fame. In 1972, Shirley and Eddie Clarkson ran their business, Gabrielle Designs, out of their home in Burghwallis near Doncaster in Yorkshire, England. It would grow into a very successful business, selling Paddington Bear toys all around the world. It was Shirley who decided to put wellington boots on Paddington and they have become a feature of his appearance ever since.
Source: The official Paddington Bear website.
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