Michael Bond is still sadly missed since he died in 2017 June, but he left us a present - one last adventure for Paddington Bear. Michael has twice been recognised for his services to children's literature: in 1997 Michael Bond was awarded an OBE and in 2002 he was honoured in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, celebrating a century of childrens authors. Bears don't need much encouragement, and Paddington has since filled the pages of fourteen novels, a variety of picture books, and many other projects written for the young at heart of all ages. Bought as a ‘stocking filler’ for his first wife, Brenda, it was to act as the inspiration for A Bear Called Paddington, first published 13 October 1958. He was taking refuge in Selfridges when he came across a small toy bear, literally left on the shelf. The inspiration for his most famous creation came one snowy Christmas Eve. Its acceptance by London Opinion sowed the seeds of a future career, but before becoming a full-time writer he was to spend many happy and fruitful years as a BBC television cameraman.
During the war he served with both the RAF and the army, and it was in 1947, while stationed in Cairo, that he wrote his first short story. On leaving school at the age of fourteen, he spent a year in a lawyers' office before joining the BBC as an engineer.
After ten days I found that I had a book on my hands.“ Īuthor of over one hundred books, Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire, in 1926 and grew up in Reading. I wrote some stories about the bear, more for fun than with the idea of having them published. I took it home as a present for my wife Brenda, and named it Paddington, as we were living near Paddington Station at the time. “I saw it left on a shelf in a London store, and felt sorry for it. A Bear Called Paddington (1958) “It all began when I bought a small toy bear on Christmas Eve 1956,” he recalls.
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