He began working for the BBC after the war and, even after “A Bear Called Paddington” was published, he did not immediately quit his day job. Over the next decade, he had numerous short stories published and radio plays performed, but “it was a good year if I made a hundred pounds,” he wrote in “Third Book of Junior Authors.” Bond sold his first short story in 1945, to the magazine London Opinion, and said later that he had written it outside a tent in Cairo. After 10 days he had a completed novel, which William Collins & Sons bought for £75. He took the bear home as a stocking stuffer for his wife and soon began writing a story about it. “It looked rather forlorn,” he told the London newspaper The Sunday Telegraph in 2007. On his way home, he stopped by Selfridges department store and spotted a toy bear alone on a shelf.

Bond, the story began on Christmas Eve 1956, when he was working as a BBC TV camera operator. But most important, he is unfailingly polite with a strong sense of morality, and he always tries to do the right thing.įor Mr. Paddington also had a known predilection for marmalade sandwiches.

They included London theater, a cricket match, a visit to a waxworks museum, a riding competition and antiques shopping on Portobello Road. Bond was quoted as saying on an official website for his creation, “because I thought that Paddington was essentially an English character.”Ĭertainly the character participated in some typical British activities in his books. “I am constantly surprised by all the translations,” Mr. The books have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide and have been translated into at least 40 languages. Paddington, drawn by a half-dozen illustrators over the years, came to be known for his distinctive ensemble of blue duffel coat with toggle fastenings, floppy felt hat and red Wellington boots.

Paddington bear