Wednesday, June 28, 2017

If You're Not British...

...then you might not understand Paddington Bear. (Maybe. He's a popular souvenir).

Paddington Bear was a fictional character - a bear in a hat, duffle coat and welly boots who appeared in more than 20 books, several television series and a movie (with another being made). And pretty much every kid had one - starting way back in 1958.

It all started when a BBC cameraman was doing his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve - and spotted a lonely stuffed bear on a shelf near Paddington station.

"Paddington" was well received, but inspired the man to create the fictional character of a homeless stowaway bear from "Darkest Peru" - a character who often appeared with a luggage tag around his neck in memory of the wartime evacuee children.

That cameraman was named Michael Bond, and he also wrote the Detective Pamplemousse novels for adults.

Michael Bond died Tuesday,a at the age of 91 - but Paddington Bear lives on.

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