WITHOUT a doubt Paddington Bear is one of the most iconic British book characters of all time.
Children and their parents have all grown up with Michael Bond’s much-loved creation.
Who is Paddington Bear and where is he from?
Paddington Bear is a small bear who came to London with only his suitcase and his red hat,
He is the fictional creation of the late Michael Bond, who worked as a BBC cameraman for Blue Peter at the time.
The idea of Paddington came to him after buying a neglected teddy bear on Christmas Eve in 1956.
Michael decided to name the iconic bear after London Paddington Station – because he and his wife lived nearby at the time.
Where does Paddington live?
Paddington Bear’s first appearance was in the 1958 book A Bear called Paddington.
In the story, Paddington is a friendly bear from Peru and was found abandoned at Paddington station in London by the Brown family, who take him in.
Paddington was sent to England by his Aunt Lucy who has gone to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima.
The Browns can’t understand his Peruvian name, so the family decide to call him Paddington after where they found him – his Peruvian name is later revealed to be “Pastuso”.
Where is the Paddington Bear statue?
The iconic character even has his own bronze statue.
The tribute to our beloved Paddington is located at his namesake – Paddington station in London.
The statue was installed in 2000 and was designed by Marcus Cornish.
Why does Paddington Bear have a blue coat and suitcase?
Most of us think of Paddington as wearing a hat, coat and boots and carrying a suitcase – but the coat and boots arrived in England after he did.
The famous bear was given his blue duffle coat by The Browns and he was given his boots for Christmas in the 1964 book Paddington Marches On.
His old hat belonged to Paddington’s uncle Pastuzo.
In the very first book, Paddington was found at the station wearing nothing but a “rather dirty coloured” hat.
In the first television series, the much-loved bear wore a black hat and blue coat and, sometimes, red Wellington boots.
However, in the film and the current books Paddington wears a red hat and blue coat.
In the US, the first toy Paddington bears were sold with a yellow hat, and in the UK he was sold with a whole range of different colours – so there are no truly “correct” colour combinations.
He has also been known to wear a yellow rain mac and matching hat.