DID YOU KNOW?

Paddington Bear

As the animated/live-action comedy Paddington airs today (5.40pm, Ch4), we look at some facts you might not know about the duffel-coated bear from darkest Peru…

Creator Michael Bond’s first Paddington story was published in 1958. He’d been inspired by a teddy bear sitting alone on a shelf in a London shop on Christmas Eve, 1956. He bought it for his wife, then began to write the stories, which only ended with his death in 2017.

Bond originally wanted Paddington to come from Africa, but his agent informed him that there were, in fact, no bears on that continent. They turned their focus to South America and settled on Peru, home to the spectacled bear.

The first Paddington Bear stuffed toy to be manufactured was created in

1972 by Gabrielle Designs, a small business run by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson, with the prototype made as a Christmas present for their son, the TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Paddington’s adventures were first televised in 1976, by the BBC. Several specials were made between 1980 and 1993 – and the bear even starred in an advert for Marmite in 2007. However, Michael Bond insisted that Paddington would not be giving up his beloved marmalade for good. When the French and British segments of the Channel Tunnel were linked in 1994, a Paddington toy was the first item to be passed through from British tunnellers to their French counterparts.