Please look after this bear. Thank you

By sizemore Last edited 218 months ago
Please look after this bear. Thank you
paddington.jpg

Nice to see the Beeb giving time for a little slideshow fun with Michael Bond on his 80th birthday and his immortal creation Paddington who himself is heading for the big five oh. No surprise that he's still such a firm favourite with a perfectly rereadable series of perfect books (no matter what your age) and a classic TV show. In fact he may well be our favourite bear here at Londonist, edging out even the mighty Iorek Byrnison.

Of course if Paddington arrived these days he'd be in a detention centre waiting to be shipped back to darkest Peru lest he ended up living next to a Daily Mail reader.

Thankfully he's been here (at number 32 Windsor Gardens near Portobello Road to be precise) with the Browns long enough to be declared a citizen and even has a statue in the station that he was named after - apparently his Peruvian name was too hard to pronounce. All these facts and more are to be found on the little chap's wikipedia entry which include this great little tidbit:

Paddington's influence on fashion has been limited to his hat. At Paddington's first appearance, the upturned brim at the front of his crush hat was irretrievably gauche. By the end of the 1990s it had become de rigueur among Sloane Rangers.

and we love the fact that Street traders on the Peruvian shores of Lake Titicaca now offer tourists home-made finger-puppets of Paddington... now that's FAME.

Much more furry goodness over at his official website.

Marmalade sandwiches for lunch we thinks...

Last Updated 13 January 2006