A BEAR LOVED BY GENERATIONS...
The creator of Paddington Michael Bond dies aged 91
A CHILDREN’S story about a bear with a battered suitcase and a penchant for marmalade sandwiches had in 1958 been no-one’s idea of a best-seller.
But with the death at 91 of Michael Bond, they closed the book on one of publishing’s greatest franchises.
Bond had been a BBC television cameraman, working on programmes like Blue Peter, when he submitted the manuscript for his first novel, A Bear Called Paddington.
It was accepted by the publisher Collins, but it was another seven years before its author could give up his day job.
Bond, who died at home on Tuesday following a short illness, had based the Peruvian bear on a soft toy he had found on the pavement outside Selfridges while doing his Christmas shopping.
“There’s something about a bear – you feel you can tell it your secrets and it won’t give them away,” he recalled later.
Some 14 more books about Paddington followed, as well as a fondly-remembered TV series narrated by the late Sir Michael Hordern, and a 2014 film voiced by Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman and others. A sequel is in production.
Last night, Mr Bonneville said it was poignant to have learned of Bond’s death as filming finished on the second movie.
“In Paddington, Michael created a character whose enthusiasm and optimism has given pleasure to millions across the generations,” Mr Bonneville said.
His co-star and screen wife, Sally Hawkins, added: “Paddington is Michael.
“Thank you, dear Michael, for such light and joy you brought to the world and will continue to do so in the hearts of so many children who fall in love with that dear little bear.”
Ann-Janine Murtagh, Bond’s publisher at what is now HarperCollins Children’s Books, said: “He was a true gentleman, a bon viveur, the most entertaining company and the most enchanting of writers.
“He will be forever remembered for Paddington, with his duffle coat and wellington boots, which touched my own heart as a child and will live on in the hearts of future generations.”
Though Bond was forever associated with Paddington, he was a multi-faceted author, turning out 150 volumes, including a string of novels for adults about a French detective called Monsieur Pamplemousse. He also created the children’s TV show, The Herbs.
Born in Newbury, Berkshire, he had begun writing in 1945 while stationed with the Army in Cairo, and sold his first short story to a magazine called London Opinion.
He once said: “I doubt my mother ever pictured me writing for a living. In fact, when I eventually gave up working for the BBC to write full time, I think both my parents were worried that I had given up a nice, safe job for what sounded like a precarious existence.”