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| Paddington Bear statue at Paddington station. |
This statue of Paddington Bear, at Paddington station, is a bronze sculpture by Marcus Cornish. Considering Paddington Bear has been around since 1958 the statue wasn't erected until 2000.
Michael Bond remembered watching newsreels of children being evacuated, during World War II, who had labels around their necks, carrying bags containing their possessions, which gave him the inspiration for the style.
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| Paddington Bear plaque at Paddington station. |
The first story, 'A Bear Called Paddington', sees the Brown family arriving at Paddington station and discovering the bear, sitting on his suitcase with a note attached to his coat that read , 'Please look after this bear. Thank you'. The Browns are unable to pronounce the bear's name in its bear language, so, they call him Paddington, as that is where they found him.
Originally, Paddington was to have "travelled from darkest Africa", but, as his agent pointed out, there are no bears in Africa, so he changed it to "darkest Peru", where the spectacled bear comes from. It is Paddington's Aunt Lucy who sends Paddington to London, as a stowaway, after his uncle Pastuzo has moved to a Home for Retired Bears, in Lima. Paddington tells them, "I came in a lifeboat and ate marmalade. Bears like marmalade."
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| 32 Windsor Gardens, from 'Paddington' (2014). |
So, the Brown family, that includes the parents, Henry and Mary, and their children, Jonathan and Judy, take Paddington home to 32 Windsor Gardens.
Paddington was always polite, addressing everyone with their title, but hardly ever using their first name. He also had a capacity to innocently get himself into trouble, while trying so hard to do things right.
However, those who incurred his disapproval would be met with one of his special 'hard stares'.
