Paddington Bear ditches Marmalade for Marmite in new TV ad | Daily Mail Online Paddington Bear ditches Marmalade for Marmite in new TV ad Last updated at 09:00 13 September 2007 Marmalade's most famous fan has turned to the dark side. After 50 years of nibbling sandwiches made from the orange sticky stuff, Paddington Bear will today have his first taste of Marmite. The teddy has been brought back to life in his animated form for the first time in 20 years in an advert for the savoury spread. It has the slogan: 'You love it or you hate it.' Scroll down for more... The commercial has the bear, who was found by the Brown family at Paddington station in West London, tasting Marmite for the first time since his arrival from Peru in 1958. He loves it and shares his sandwich with a pigeon, who hates it. The U-turn was thrashed out in a deal between food giant Unilever, which owns the Marmite brand, and Paddington and Company, owner of the rights to the bear.

Cheryl Calverley, of Unilever, said: "The Marmite brand and Paddington Bear are British institutions and have broad appeal, transcending generations." However, the move has got the bear in a jam with Dundee marmalade maker Mackays. A spokesman said: "Paddington has sold out. It's a very sad day for marmalade." The London that greeted Paddington Bear in 1958 is a far cry from that of today. The small brown bear was found sitting on his suitcase with a note attached to his coat reading 'Please look after this bear', having been sent to England from Peru by his aunt. That would count as a plea for asylum these days and land him a place in a detention centre. At the very least he would be likely to be ordered to spend six months in quarantine before the Brown family could take him home. Offering a pigeon a bite of his sandwich could land him with a £500 fine in London. On the bright side, presuming he is a spectacled bear, the only bear species in Peru, he would then be taken to a zoo with a breeding programme as the species is threatened with extinction.

If he was not a real bear, but in fact a teddy, Mr Brown would be required to tell station staff or police and the station would be closed and the poor bear blown up by a bomb disposal squad 'due to security'. If Mr Brown did get to bring him back to his Edwardian family home in Notting Hill, it would now be extremely expensive flats. In 1958, Paddington would have elevenses (a refreshment between breakfast and lunch) with Mr Gruber, an antique dealer on Portobello Road. If his shop had survived the sky-high rents of today, they'd now be more likely to grab a Starbucks coffee regularly interrupted by their mobiles. Paddington Bear - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Paddington Bear Wikis Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics Top rankings for Paddington Bear 59th Top crossovers in fiction Did you know ...

British sculptor Marcus Cornish has created a sculpture of the fictional Paddington Bear (pictured) and a statue of Jesus Christ dubbed "Jesus in Jeans" by the media? Paddington Station : Bronze statue of Paddington Bear, by Marcus Cornish Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature . He first appeared on 13 October 1958 [1] and was subsequently featured in several books, most recently in 2008, written by Michael Bond and first illustrated by Peggy Fortnum . The polite immigrant bear from Darkest Peru , with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffle coat and love of marmalade sandwiches has become a classic character from English children's literature . [2] Paddington books have been translated into thirty languages across seventy titles and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Over 265 licences, making thousands of different products across the United Kingdom, Europe, United States, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and South Africa all benefit from the universal recognition of Paddington Bear. [3] Paddington is an anthropomorphised bear .

He is always polite (always addressing people as "Mr.", "Mrs." and "Miss" and very rarely by first names) and well-meaning (though he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval). He likes marmalade sandwiches and cocoa , and has an endless capacity for getting into trouble. However, he is known to "try so hard to get things right". He is an adoptive member of the (human) Brown family, and thus gives his full name as Paddington Brown. Contents Advertisements Origin Bond based Paddington Bear on a lone teddy bear he noticed on a shelf in a London store near Paddington Station on Christmas Eve 1956, which he bought as a present for his wife. The bear inspired Bond to write a story, and in ten days, he had written the first book. The book was given to his agent, Harvey Unna. A Bear Called Paddington was first published on 13 October 1958, by William Collins & Sons (now Harper Collins ).

[4] [5] The toy Paddington Bear The first Paddington Bear 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 children Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson ( English broadcaster and writer). Shirley Clarkson dressed Paddington in Wellington boots to help the bear stand upright. (Paddington received wellingtons for Christmas in Paddington Marches On, 1964.) The earliest bears wore small children's boots manufactured by Dunlop until their production could not meet demand. Gabrielle Designs then produced their own boots with paw prints moulded into the soles. Shirley Clarkson's book [6] describes the evolution of the toy Paddington from Christmas gift to subject of litigation and ultimately commercial success. Storyline In the first story, Paddington is found at Paddington railway station in London by the Brown family, sitting on his suitcase (bearing the label "WANTED ON VOYAGE") with a note attached to his coat which reads, "Please look after this bear.

Thank you." Bond has said that his memories of newsreels showing trainloads of child evacuees leaving London during the war, with labels around their necks and their possessions in small suitcases, prompted him to do the same for Paddington. [7] He has arrived as a stowaway coming from "Darkest Peru ", sent by his Aunt Lucy (one of his only known relatives, aside from an Uncle Pastuzo who gave Paddington his hat), [8] who has gone to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima . He claims, "I came all the way in a lifeboat, and ate marmalade. Bears like marmalade." He tells them that no one can understand his Peruvian name, so the Browns decide to call him Paddington after the railway station in which he was found. Bond originally wanted Paddington to have "travelled all the way from darkest Africa ", but his agent advised him that there were no bears in darkest Africa, and thus it was amended to darkest Peru, home of the spectacled bear . [9] They take him home to 32 Windsor Gardens, off Harrow Road between Notting Hill and Maida Vale .

The stories follow Paddington's adventures and mishaps in England . When he gets annoyed with someone, he often gives them one of his special "hard stares" (taught to him by Aunt Lucy), which causes the person to become flushed and embarrassed. Characters There is a recurring cast of characters, all of whom are in some way implicated by Paddington's misadventures. These include: Mr. Brown (Henry): A friendly and often ineffectual city worker. Mrs. Brown (Mary): Mr. Brown's equally friendly wife. Jonathan and Judy: The energetic and friendly Brown children. It is never established if one is older than the other, leading to the perception that they are twins. Mrs. Bird: The Browns' stern, but ultimately friendly, housekeeper. Mr. Gruber: Owner of an antique shop on the Portobello Road , with whom Paddington has his elevenses every day. He is a Hungarian immigrant. Mr. Curry: The Browns' mean and bad-tempered next-door neighbour, who addresses Paddington simply as "Bear!" He often invites himself to many of the Browns' special occasions (though just to sample the snacks). Aunt Lucy: Paddington's aunt from South America.

Books A Bear Called Paddington was first published in 1958 and was followed by ten more books. In order of publication, the titles are: [10] A Bear Called Paddington (1958) Featured Stories: Please Look After This Bear - The story of how the Browns first met Paddington at Paddington station, hence his name. He has a sticky situation with some pastries in the station buffet. A Bear In Hot Water - Paddington's first attempt at having a bath is a disaster. Paddington Goes Underground - Paddington's first journey on the Underground causes chaos - he finds himself in trouble with one of the inspectors. A Shopping Expedition - Paddington gets lost in Barkridge's, a local department store. Mrs. Brown has to enlist the help of a police detective. Paddington and "The Old Master" - This story introduces Paddington's friend, the antique dealer, Mr. Gruber. After hearing Mr. Gruber talk about painting, Paddington decides to try his hand at painting himself. He completely ruins Mr. Brown's entry for a painting competition, but all is forgiven when his abstract painting wins Mr. Brown his first ever prize.

A Visit To The Theatre - Paddington goes to see a play with the Browns, and ends up acting as prompter for the lead actor, who keeps forgetting his lines. Adventure At The Seaside - Paddington takes part in a sandcastle competition, but his castle is washed away, and he gets lost. A Disappearing Trick - Paddington enjoys his first birthday with the Browns - he is given a magic set, which he uses to entertain everyone. This story also introduces Mr. Curry, the Browns' bad-tempered next-door neighbour. Other titles Paddington Rules the Waves (2008) Paddington Here and Now (2008) Special publications Paddington Rules the Waves (2008) A £1 World Book Day Book [11] Paddington Here and Now (2008) Published as part of the series' 50th anniversary celebrations. [12] [13] . Blue Peter Author Michael Bond was also a BBC TV cameraman who worked on the popular children's television programme Blue Peter .

After this was revealed in 1965, a special Paddington story — in which he got mixed up in the programme itself — appeared annually in the Blue Peter Annuals for many years. They were collected in the novel-length Paddington's Blue Peter Story Book in 1973. Featured Stories: "Paddington Goes Halves": Paddington enters a craft competition for Blue Peter. He is allowed to use Mr. Curry's guest room as his studio, on condition that he gives Mr. Curry half his winnings. Paddington wins a prize, but it isn't what Mr. Curry expected. Paddington is put in charge of looking after Joey, the Blue Peter parrot, whilst the team are away. "Paddington Weighs in": Paddington sees an item on Blue Peter, and thinks that the team are in trouble. It turns out they were only trying out the fitness machines in a new health hostel. Paddington only finds this out after he has attempted to investigate, resulting in an uncomfortable fitness session with the hostel's over-zealous coach, Mr. Constantine, and a nasty scene in the hostel restaurants when he tucks into a non-too-healthy marmalade sandwich.

A second book based around Blue Peter is Paddington on Screen. Many other picture books and other publications have since featured Paddington. Television The BBC television series Paddington , produced by Michael Bond and London-based animation company FilmFair , was first broadcast in 1975. This series had an extremely distinctive appearance: Paddington was a stop-motion puppet moving in a three dimensional space in front of two-dimensional backgrounds (which were frequently sparse black-and-white line drawings), while all other characters were 2D drawings — in one scene, a character hands Paddington a jar of marmalade that becomes 3D when Paddington touches it. Animator Ivor Wood also worked on The Magic Roundabout and Postman Pat . The series was narrated by Michael Hordern . In the United States , episodes aired on PBS , on the syndicated series Romper Room , on Nickelodeon as a segment on the program Pinwheel and on USA Network as a segment on the program Calliope in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as in between preschool programming on the Disney Channel throughout the 1990s.

The series also aired on HBO in between features, usually when they were airing children's programmes. The series won a silver medal at the New York Film and Television Festival in 1979 — the first British animated series to do so. A second television series, produced by Hanna-Barbera , debuted in 1989 as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera . This series was traditional two-dimensional animation and featured veteran voice actor Charlie Adler as Paddington and Tim Curry as Mr. Curry. The character of an American boy named David, Jonathan and Judy Brown's cousin who arrived in London on the same day as Paddington, was added to the stories in the 1989 cartoon. The most recent series, produced by Cinar Films , was first broadcast in 1997 and consisted of traditional two-dimensional colour animation. The show was called The Adventures of Paddington Bear . On the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the United States, contestant David Goodman had a question worth $ 1 Million saying "In the children's book series, where is Paddington Bear originally from? A: India, B: Peru, C: Canada, D: Iceland".

With the use of all 3 of his lifelines, he answered with B: Peru and won. [14] Film adaptation In September 2007, Warner Bros. and producer David Heyman announced a live action film adaptation of Paddington Bear. Hamish McColl , who penned Mr Bean's Holiday , will write the script. The film will not be an adaptation of an existing story, but "will draw inspiration from the whole series" and will feature a computer generated Paddington Bear interacting with a live-action environment. [15] Advertising Paddington Bear features in the Marmite UK TV advertisement (first broadcast on 13 September 2007), [16] in which he tries a marmite and cheese sandwich instead of his traditional marmalade sandwich. [17] Paddington was featured on the Royal Mail 1st class stamp in the Animal Tales series released on 10 January 2006, and had previously been featured on one of the 1st class Greetings Messages stamps, released on 1 February 1994.

In 2008, the Pobjoy Mint in London issued a series of Paddington Bear legal tender coins under authority of the government of the Isle of Man. Coins were minted in copper-nickel, silver and gold. Political celebrity Paddington Bear has achieved prominence as one of Britain's most famous immigrants, albeit a fictional one. In a speech during his 2009 visit to the United Kingdom Barack Obama described Paddington as, 'my ursine hero', saying that though he was an immigrant (and an illegal one at that) he had become the epitome of Englishness. [18] Google On 13 October 2008, Google celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Paddington publication by placing an image of the travelling bear with a sign showing Peru and London incorporated into Google's logo.

[19] References Simon Sheridan's book The A to Z of Classic Children's Television (Reynolds & Hearn books, 2004, reprinted 2007) ISBN 1-903111-27-7 contains an informative chapter on the 1970s TV series of Paddington From Paddington to Page #walking #london | TanGental From Paddington to Page #walking #london Posted on November 21, 2016 by TanGental The New Design Museum, part of the old Commonwealth Institute and where my west London walk ended So what links Paddington Bear and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin? Me of course. I reposted a couple of days ago about why Paddington is so important to me and anything that brings him to mind is, well, a pleasure. And he popped into my head when I realised my planned day out would take me along the Portobello Road in North London. As a child I never visited this part of London, never saw the Portobello Road in the flesh and never experienced its many flea markets and arcades, stalls and trinket-cum-antiques shops.

But I had a vivid picture of what it was like from Paddington’s books, because every day Paddington would visit his good friend and antique shop owner, Samuel Gruber for elevenses. Today it is a stretch of dolly mix painted buildings selling mostly over priced goods that pander to tourists more than locals. But then again that was probably true in the 1960s, the only difference being, back then, Notting Hill was a down-a-heel and tatty part of London, grotty sooted and failing while now it is an excruciatingly expensive and well maintained home for peacocking promenadors and Paltrow patronisers – sorry Gwennie but it is so you, this place. Still as I wandered amongst the antique shops, still crammed, still selling near enough everything to the gullible it wasn’t a stretch to imagine Mr Gruber peering over his pince-nez at me. The reason I was here was the start of a stroll through Notting Hill and Holland Park to visit two museums.

The first, to the north of Notting Hill and near the dirty, roaring, ugly-as-saggy-buttocks Euston Road that sits on its concrete flyover, was the Museum of Brands . This isn’t large but it is worth a visit. Starting with the advertising in the daily papers in the early 18 hundreds it take you, cabinet by cabinet through the next 180 years, neatly explaining with copious examples how the nature of advertising and the creation of brands, be they goods, books, celebrities, fashion and so on were created, which ones thrived and which died. It doesn’t attempt anything too deep about the whys and wherefores but you do find yourself lost in the history of say Marmite, or wondering at the minds of the people behind campaigns leading up to WW1. Personally I loved seeing the old radios and TVs, the latest gadgetry like the early vacuum cleaners and the adverts that went with them. And when I hit the 1960s and the Thunderbird models and the sweets I craved as a child and the comics and annuals I absorbed as early experiments in the joys of reading – well, talk about finding a small corner of heaven.

One thing about gentrification that is, to me, a positive and that’s there are always plenty of places to eat reasonably well, cafes that serve interesting salads and decent coffee. Notting Hill has this to the max so having refilled I set off for my next destination. My walk took me through Holland Park, one of the smaller central London parks but very well maintained, with the remnants of a Jacobean style castle now part of a youth hostel and a beautiful Japanese garden, the Kyoto garden created to allow peaceful contemplation in the midst of a bustling city. One sign – Pokemon Go users not welcome – probably says all you need to know about it. For those of you I haven’t lost yet, you will recall I mentioned Jimmy Page of Led Zepp at the top of this post. How does he fit? Back at the end of the 1960s, as I approached teenagerhood, there was a distinct lack of musical appreciation in my life. We had no method of playing music at home (I really do not count the Archaeologist’s attempts to reconstruct His Master’s Voice phonographs he bought at jumble sales – they put in in hospital, which is a whole other post).

At least not until the money I saved from my gardening job was put towards first my own transistor radio, much like those I had just seen, and then a small stereo player. What though to play? I listened to the charts and, being somewhat self absorbed, my musical choices stretched as far as the Carpenters and Gilbert O’Sullivan. Yep, I needed help which appeared in the shape of my school friend Dave and Whole Lotta Love. That opening rift did something to my malleable brain and I never looked back. An appreciation of heavy rock and the power of the guitar to entrance as well as nascent tinnitus were the result. I still have the albums… It was therefore no hardship to stop by Tower House a magnificent if possibly also monstrous pile and take a picture as this is home to Maestro Page – perhaps an incongruous setting for such raw rapacity. Smiling and metaphorically banging my head (actually doing that hereabouts would have me arrested unlike my own manor of South London where it would appear utterly normal) I passed to the Lord Leighton museum. Frederick Leighton was a Victorian painter, friend to the likes of Burne-Jones and crafter of some beauty.

This his house is a beautiful homage to the man and his art. One of his most famous pieces – Flaming June – is the subject of an exhibition just now. Using notes and sketches and his original studio they deconstruct how he created this masterpiece. One thing struck me though. It’s subsequent history. Victorian art fell out of fashion with the trending towards the surreal and the cuboidal and this piece disappeared until emerging, hidden behind panelling in a house in Clapham in the 1950s and being taken by some workmen to an antique dealer. Andrew Lloyd Weber recalls seeing it for sale as a young man but back then, a student and broke he couldn’t afford the £50!! It is November and the evenings draw in quickly hereabouts. I fancied a dander at the new Design Museum which is nearby but it isn’t open yet – 24th November – so instead I shot an image of the curious sculpture outside. Nope I didn’t understand it either. This is one of Jo’s Monday Walks ; have a look and see where others go.

Better still join in and introduce us to your own favourites… Share this: PADDINGTON: How a Maryland-sprung artist inherited a royal line of work: Rendering the beloved Brit-immigrant bear - The Washington Post PADDINGTON: How a Maryland-sprung artist inherited a royal line of work: Rendering the beloved Brit-immigrant bear The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set! By Michael Cavna By Michael Cavna January 22, 2015 Follow @comicriffs (courtesy of R.W. Alley) THE INTRIGUING DISPATCH arrived about a matter across the Pond, concerning a man in London named Mister Bond. The man who received it had family ties to the Naval Academy, and was a marksman when working in water. This fellow Bond, it seemed, might have a job. R.W. Alley remembers the details vividly.

He is an American illustrator born in Virginia and raised largely in 1960s and ’70s Maryland, and it was about two decades ago when his talents attracted the attention of England’s Michael Bond, who is best known ’round the world as the creator of the beloved, nearly 60-year-old Peruvian immigrant Paddington Bear (whose stories have often been adapted to small and big screens, including the well-received new film with a CGI-animated star). R.W. Alley (photo courtesy of the artist) In the ’90s, as the cross-continental imprint HarperCollins was born, so was the opportunity to render a talking brown bear in his Wellingtons and hat. A cricket-playing American artist entered the picture. “While Michael Bond had expanded Paddington’s bookshelf to include picture books, these had not found a U.S. publisher. Now there was one,” Alley tells The Post’s Comic Riffs. “However, the editors in New York needed to revise and expand the line to meet their U.S. goals. Someone, very cleverly, noticed that the Paddington novels were illustrated in simple pen-and-ink by the amazing Peggy Fortnum.

The same someones noticed that my specialty was pen and ink with a bit of watercolor … and offered a trip to London to audition for Mr. Bond. “Who would say, ‘No’?” This mission, though, meant doing some sudden research, as Alley plunged into all things Paddington. “I did have to familiarize myself with the bear,” Alley tells us. “I read all the novels and, in those pre-Amazon days — don’t I sound like a South American explorer? (Alley’s knowing nod to the bear’s roots) — I found as many of the picture books as I could. In a month or so, off I went to London, sample drawings in hand and paints in the suitcase. Mr. Bond and his wife, Sue, could not have been more kind.” To land the assignment, however, Alley made some on-the-ground adjustments. “As Mr. Bond led a tour of Paddington’s Portobello Road environs, it was clear he expected to see Paddington at every turning. After a while, so did I,” Alley tells The Post. “That night, I forgot about sleep and revised my sketches. The next morning, I passed the audition.

“Originally, I was only supposed to illustrate for the U.S. books, but Mr. Bond kindly suggested that my pictures would translate across the ocean,” Alley continues. “Now, the books are primarily edited out of London and co-published in the U.S.” Later, during an hourlong phone call with the creator, Alley nailed down some of the trademark visuals. “Bond and I settled on a red hat, blue coat and yellow boots,” the artist says of his marmalade-loving, anthropomorphic animal. Comic Riffs caught up with the Rhode Island-based Alley to delve into a British bear’s graphical evolution, why the character resonates with generations of readers, and Paddington as a true immigrant story: MICHAEL CAVNA: As a comics fan, I find much value in origin stories, so I’m curious: What’s your origin story with Paddington? When do you first remember seeing this fuzzy-wuzzy creature, and how do you come to be the current hand that renders this ever-endearing, and ever-enduring, bear? R.W. ALLEY: Good question. I was illustrating two I Can Read book series for Harper & Row in the mid-1990s and having quite a good time of it.

These early-reader books are basically all dialogue and action words, so the trick is to make the characters and settings visually interesting and the actions in the art mirror pretty exactly the action of the verbs. Anyway, during that time, Harper & Row merged with William Collins Publishers in London and, voila, HarperCollins was born. One of Collins’ perennial children’s’ characters was Paddington. MC: How did you arrive at your version of Paddington — was it a gradual evolution, or did you settle into it fairly quickly? And did you draw influences from any particular predecessors? Your Paddington has some of the same body proportions as Ivor Wood’s [work], and harks back to David McKee in the character’s utter warmth. RWA: At the time I began drawing Paddington, the art style had become very stylized and relied on the hat, coat, boots and suitcase-in-hand to convey his character. It was very much an image of the bear in stores. [A design that was launched in stores in the ’70s.] That made sense as a marketing image for static images. But, it wasn’t necessarily the best way to present Mr. Bond’s words. So I began by drawing an upright bear. The clothes came later.

It was really, and still is, about animating a bear in a human world. So, Mr. Wood’s stop-motion bear was certainly an inspiration. Personally, I would have preferred to keep the black hat. … Paddington Bear as rendered by Fred Banbery. (courtesy of the publisher) I have always admired Mr. McKee’s drawings of Paddington. They do have a quick, visual charm that very much reflects Ms. Fortnum’s original line drawings. I also should mention that Fred Banbery created the art for the original interpretation of Paddington in picture books. His work I very much admire. MC: Related to that, Paddington seems to have grown ever physically sharper over the decades. Peggy Fortnum could give him a loose, almost Thurber-esque nose in profile, whereas you have a beautifully fluid line, but also a tight depth of watercolor and [colored] pencil. [Alley also uses gouache, as well as “coffee, by mistake."] Could you speak to Paddington’s longer visual evolution over the decades, and your role in that?

RWA: That’s an interesting question, now that we can see the fur ripple on the new film “Paddington” — which, I have to say I like very much. But, I think it’s really all about the text that the images are designed to illustrate. Ms. Fortnum’s art could be loose and easy because Mr. Bond’s novel texts are so specific. In the picture-book world, the art has to create more setting and costume and visual personality. Consistency of image becomes important. Setting is important. Much research goes into a Paddington project where the locale is a key element of the story: The maze at Hampton Court Palace. Goings-on at the Tower of London. These in particular benefitted from Google search and Mr. Bond’s camera. And, when setting is specific and key, the characters need to be rendered in equal detail. Paddington. (courtesy of artist R.W. Alley) As for materials … pen (crowquill) and ink are combined with watercolor, gouache, acrylic, colored pencils and sometimes crayons to make the image on Bristol board. All the above not withstanding, I have illustrated in loose pen-and-ink the most recent Paddington novels.

I am very proud to continue Paddington’s pen-and-ink tradition. MC: “Cul de Sac” creator Richard Thompson … and [“Mutts" creator] Patrick McDonnell have told me that [their] characters are really clicking when they “tell” [their artists] what to say, and draw — as if it’s a creative conversation, and they’re the writers and artistic directors. Do your characters, especially Paddington, “speak” to you, even when you’re working with Michael Bond’s words? RWA: Yes, the character does speak to you, if you allow it. While not devising the words that Paddington utters, I do try to become the bear speaking those words. This is especially true in inking. Once the layout and general pose is set in pencil, and the pen dips into the ink bottle, I don’t think about drawing anymore. The best way to describe it is that I “feel” the ink onto the paper. I feel where the character is looking, the weight he puts on which foot, the sensation of his hand as he holds or carries an object. I try not to think.

If I do, if I find my head voice saying, “Okay, now Paddington is sitting on Mr. Gruber’s sofa and looking up expectantly,” if I say that, then I will only draw an image of a bear in a coat sitting on a sofa. It will not be Paddington. Another way to say this is that the worst thing an illustrator can do is draw what he “knows” instead of what he “feels.” MC: You mention liking the new film. Directly or indirectly, did you at all serve as a visual consultant? And what did you most like visually about this adaptation to the big screen? What especially “worked” for you, and is there anything you would change? RWA: Film is its own world, both artistically and contractually. I had no direct part in bringing “Paddington” to the big screen. Which I think is just as well. I would like to think that my pictures had some influence on the CGI Paddington, but who knows? What I do know is that I found the animation, general visual sense and voice of the character very much in line with the bear I would expect to find having his morning elevenses with an antique dealer on the Portobello Road.

“Paddington Here and Now,” 2008. (courtesy of artist R.W. Alley) MC: Some characters are popular for a generation, but far fewer get to be discovered and inherited by multiple generations. What about Paddington do you think most appeals to each new set of young readers — what is so special about this bear that he endures, fresh as ever [since the first Paddington book appeared in 1958, two years after Bond was inspired to create him]? RWA: Paddington’s continued appeal is a direct result of Michael Bond’s continued engagement in the world at large, and his close attention to Paddington as a “person,” in particular. Recent political arguments over immigration in the UK, Europe and here in the U.S. highlight the heart of the Paddington “story.” Mr. Bond fully understands this, bringing his thoughts to bear in “Paddington Here and Now” (2008), the first new Paddington novel in many years, and one that I had the pleasure and privilege to embellish with line drawings. In current terminology, Paddington is an undocumented alien from a third-world environment who’s looking for a home in one of the major cities of the first world.

In children’s eyes, Paddington is an uprooted peer, alone in the world, looking for a family and a safe home. As Mr. Bond tells it, Paddington is the child, name tag strung around his neck, having just escaped by train the dangers of the adults’ world war, now waiting on a station platform to be taken in by a kind family. Mr. Bond and his daughter Karen Jankel, who oversees the business end of things, have guarded and grown this basic story for over 50 years. That is the key to Paddington’s continued appeal. The CGI version of the beloved bear from a scene in the new film “Paddington.” (The Weinstein Co. via AP) MC: Speaking of origin stories, what is yours? … And did anything particular about Maryland fuel your young artistic interest and imagination? RWA: I was born in Lexington, Va. My dad was a college professor [electrical engineering] and we lived in various places until we moved to Annapolis, where I joined the fourth grade and he joined the faculty at the Naval Academy. I’m an only child, so I was left to entertain myself a lot.

Mostly, this took the form animating on paper the stories that rolled through my head. Legos were also crucial as a 3-D means of the same storytelling. However, in those days there were no Lego people, so I made my own cast of characters out of clay. When I unboxed these old Lego bricks to add to our children’s new bricks, we found many with ancient clay formations firmly attached. An arm here. A leg there. Kinda gruesome, really. But, I don’t want to convey the idea of a lonely childhood. My neighborhood was lousy with kids. Tree forts, snapping turtles, pick-up baseball, street football and, of course, poison ivy. MC: Did you study art in school — and did you have particular art influences or inspirations as a boy or young man? R.W. Alley’s illustration of Enzo for the book “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” (courtes of the artist) RWA: I didn’t study art in a formal way in college. My degree is in art history from Haverford College, through the department at Bryn Mawr. I also took a bunch of studio art courses. As graduation neared, law school was discussed.

Then, luckily, I sold my first children’s book — one that I’d written. However, one book is not a career. So, for four years I worked in the “social expression” industry — greeting cards — doing book projects on the side. Then, an art agent who specialized in illustration for kids “found” me. I have been freelancing ever since. MC: What is on your drawing board or easel right now, and what works besides Paddington are you most proud of? RWA: At the moment, I am working on the pictures for the second in a series of picture books featuring the puppy Enzo, based on the canine narrator of Garth Stein’s adult bestseller, “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” This will be a Christmas adventure for 2015. Other than Paddington titles, the books that I am most proud of, and that represent most clearly how I picture stories in my head, are the two comic-formatted books alluded to earlier in this inquisition, written by my wife, the charming Zoë B. Alley : “There’s a Wolf at the Door” and “There’s a Princess in the Palace” — both published by Neal Porter at Roaring Brook Press.

MC: Anything you’d like to say directly to fans of Paddington — either of insight or encouragement, of professional passion or gratitude? RWA: I don’t think a young reader could find a better companion in children’s literature than Paddington, and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to picture his adventures. And, I am certainly grateful for all the encouragement that Paddington’s fans have sent my way over the years. The only general advice I would, or could, ever offer to my fellow illustrators is to draw a lot in pursuit of finding their own best, most comfortable, illustrative “voice.” Michael Bond: ‘Paddington stands up for things, he’s not afraid of going to the top and giving them a hard stare’ | Books | The Guardian Michael Bond: ‘Paddington stands up for things, he’s not afraid of going to the top and giving them a hard stare’ As Paddington stars in his first film, his creator talks about the bear’s enduring appeal Michael Bond and Paddington Bear.

Photograph: Felicity McCabe Friday 28 November 2014 10.00 EST Last modified on Tuesday 20 September 2016 06.16 EDT Share on Messenger Close It’s been more than 50 years since a little bear from darkest Peru found himself homeless and alone on Paddington station wearing a tag saying “Please look after this bear. Thank you”, before being adopted by the Brown family. In that time Paddington Bear has acquired ursine national treasure status in the UK and is equally adored abroad: Michael Bond’s 26 Paddington books have sold more than 35m copies worldwide and have been translated into 40 languages. And this weekend sees the release of the first Paddington feature film, which stars Hugh Bonneville , Nicole Kidman , Sally Hawkins , Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters , with Ben Whishaw providing the voice of the bear. An accompanying Paddington “trail” around London features 50 small statues of the bear decorated by celebrities ranging from David Beckham and Benedict Cumberbatch to Boris Johnson . The statues will be auctioned for charity at the end of December.

“Paddington’s very real to me,” says Bond, when we meet in the study of the London home in Little Venice he shares with his wife of 33 years, Sue. It’s filled with mementos of the character for whom the 88-year-old author has spent more than half his life creating adventures. “I think it’s something bears have. So he comes around with me in spirit and I think an awful lot of stories start because you see a sign or you hear some conversation and you think ‘what if?’.” Those “what ifs” have led not only to the books but also 56 episodes of the 1970s BBC animated films, a stage play, picture books, annuals, a strip cartoon, a cookery book, a guide to London and, of course, merchandising. Piles and piles of it, enough to fill dedicated “Paddington and Friends” shops and a concession at Selfridges. And Paddington toys are expected to be back on children’s Christmas lists this year with the new film. Bond himself was baffled at some of the requests that came to him in the early days of Paddington-mania – “Toilet rolls with a picture of Paddington!

That was an easy one to say no to.” The first Paddington licensee, who produced the classic soft toys dressed in duffel coats, hats and little Dunlop wellies, was designer Shirley Clarkson, who made the very first Paddington Bear as a Christmas present for her young son (and future Top Gear presenter) Jeremy. It’s an extraordinary level of success for a British children’s book character who doesn’t play quidditch – one matched only perhaps by that other endearingly bumbling bear, Pooh . So to what does Bond attribute the great affection his creation inspires? “Paddington is eternally optimistic and always comes back for more, no matter how many times his hopes are dashed,” says Bond. For him, it’s simply the joy of a little bear who is an outsider getting into scrapes and mishaps – always with the best of intentions – and coming out on top every time. Add that timeless appeal to adventures that are contemporary (the last book, Paddington Races Ahead was pegged to the 2012 London Olympics) and Bond makes the point that although the character has stayed exactly the same, the world has changed and the stories move with the times.

The other thing about Paddington, he adds, “is that he stands up for things, he’s not afraid of going straight to the top and giving them a hard stare”. Pinterest Michael Bond with the classic soft toy in 2003. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe for the Guardian Studio Canal and the British Board of Film Classification narrowly missed feeling the full force of a hard stare after Paddington was awarded a PG certificate rather than the U that would be more usual for a children’s film of this type, due to “mild bad language” and “mild innuendo”. Bond, who had yet to see the film when the rating was confirmed, was reportedly dismayed at the prospect of sex and swearing, declaring that he would be very upset and “might not sleep well”. Fortunately, a muffled “bloody” and the sight of Downton Abbey ’s Hugh Bonneville cross-dressing as a charlady was the extent of the depravity, and a relieved Bond declared the film “a delight from start to finish”.

The film succeeds in capturing the humour and spirit of the original Paddington and also some of the pathos as he arrives in a cold, wet London in which “hardly anyone wears a hat or says hello”, and he yearns to find a home. Director Paul King weaves in some of London’s other immigration stories – filling the soundtrack is the calypso music of the Windrush arrivals who were settling in Notting Hill around the time that Bond was first writing his stories – and concludes with typical Paddington optimism: “In London nobody’s alike, which means everyone fits in.” In 1958, when he was writing the first book, A Bear Called Paddington , Bond was partly inspired by memories of the evacuee children he saw pass through Reading station from London: “They all had a label round their neck with their name and address on and a little case or package containing all their treasured possessions. So Paddington, in a sense, was a refugee, and I do think that there’s no sadder sight than refugees.” The books also feature Paddington’s best friend, Mr Gruber, a Notting Hill antique dealer and Hungarian refugee, who can empathise with Paddington as a fellow “outsider”.

Bond based the character on his agent, Harvey Unna, who had escaped Germany just before the war – “He was about to have been made the youngest judge in Germany when somebody sent him a message telling him to get out of the country quickly, they’d seen his name on a list. So he arrived with about £10 in his pocket”. Bond was born in 1926 in Newbury in Berkshire. His father, a “mild sort of person”, was a manager working for the post office and a stickler for rules. However, Bond sees something of him in Paddington: “My father was a very polite man and he always wore a hat. We’d go on holiday to the Isle of Wight and he used to go in the sea with his trousers rolled up and keep his hat on in case he met someone he knew and would have something to raise. He would have been mortified if he hadn’t.” It was a happy childhood home. “I think the most precious thing you can give a child is your time,” Bond says. “And I think the next most precious thing you can give a child is an interest in books.

If you’re brought up with books being part of the furniture, with a story being read to you when you go to bed at night, it’s a very good start in life. I never went to bed without a story when I was small.” However, Bond’s school years were less idyllic. His C of E parents, who never went to church, sent him to a strict, fee-paying Catholic school, Presentation College, run by Catholic brothers who carried rubber straps for disciplining the boys. The school was chosen “for the simple reason my mother liked the colour of the blazer. She didn’t make many mistakes in life but that was one of them,” says Bond. He describes being “knocked about the head” by one particularly vicious master and cycling a long route to school to avoid getting beaten up by boys from the local state school, who would lie in wait. As a result, although his parents would have liked him to go to university, Bond fled education at 14 and started work as a mail boy in a local lawyer’s office, earning 10 shillings a week. But by the age of 15 he was working for the BBC.

It had set up a small transmitter in Reading and took him on as a “youth in training”, based on his childhood interest in building amplifiers and radio sets. A couple of years later, having narrowly escaped death when four bombs were dropped from a German plane on to the station, blowing the bottom of the building away, he volunteered for the airforce. His wartime experiences gave him the material and the confidence to write, along with a typewriter in the orderly room of his barracks in Egypt, and there he completed his first short story, which was accepted by the London Opinion. The magazine paid him seven guineas and left him thinking that he “wouldn’t mind being a writer”. Pinterest A still from Paddington (2014). Photograph: Allstar/StudioCanal Bond continued to write short stories for magazines after returning to the BBC at the end of the war. He went first to the monitoring service in Caversham Park, which was full of foreign nationals listening to foreign broadcasts, so “there were an awful lot of interesting people – they all had a story to tell”, and then became a cameraman, eventually working on Blue Peter .

As the success of Paddington grew, Bond was forced to choose between his two careers and, in 1965, he gave up television to write full-time. He swiftly came up with the concept of The Herbs – a children’s show featuring Parsley the Lion and Dill the Dog – and partnered with the animation company FilmFair to write the scripts for that series, which the BBC commissioned to replace Bill and Ben, followed by The Adventures of Parsley . He was working with stop-motion director/producer Ivor Wood , who had made The Magic Roundabout , and who was keen to try animating Paddington. The TV Paddington’s distinctive mix of 2D and stop-motion 3D animation was a great success and the BBC commissioned lots more episodes. As recently as 2012, Paddington was voted Britain’s best animated character of all time at the British animation awards. Getting the right voice for Paddington wasn’t easy (a problem that resurfaced nearly 40 years later when Colin Firth , who was initially engaged to voice Paddington in the feature film, was replaced at short notice by the younger Whishaw).

“A lot of very well-known people came and did their bear voices and it wasn’t totally right – you have a picture in your mind of what it’s like but it doesn’t exist really. Michael Horden came in and said ‘I don’t do voices but I’ll read the script’. So he read the script and he did what turned out to be the Paddington voice. As I wrote the scripts I could hear his voice saying the dialogue.” The series introduced a much wider audience to the character, helped hugely, says Bond, by the timing. “It had the spot after children’s hour and before the evening news. It was the best of both worlds as it had the children there already and then grown-ups coming in for the news and seeing it as well.” Bond has written other books, other series even. Olga da Polga is the guinea-pig star of a number of chapter books and picture books – and also the real name of the Bond family guinea pig (I’m introduced to Olga number six as she scampers about in the Bond home). There is also a long-running detective comedy series featuring Monsieur Pamplemousse, a French restaurant inspector.

(Bond himself is a Francophile, spending a week each month writing in the flat he rents in Paris.) But it is Paddington to whom he always returns. However, Paddington’s arrival took Bond by surprise. It was 1958, the year that his daughter, Karen, who is now managing director of Paddington and Company, was born but Bond didn’t set out to write a children’s book. Or even a book at all. “The first book started life as a doodle really because I had a blank sheet of paper and a typewriter and you know that nobody else is going to put any words on unless you do. I was looking around the room and we had this small bear, which had been a kind of stocking filler for my first wife, and I wondered, idly, what it would be like if it was a real bear that landed on Paddington station and I typed the first words down. The idea caught my fancy.” His publisher, Billy Collins, suggested Peggy Fortnum as an illustrator and she brought the bear to life on the page.

Paddington went on to be drawn by Wood, who developed the cartoon version for the TV series, David McKee (of Elmer and Mr Benn fame) and, most recently, RW Alley , who has been illustrating the Paddington books since the 1990s. Alley is based in the US. Bond says they have a “nice relationship” and he finds himself going out on missions with his camera to take pictures of particularly English objects that might need to appear in the background of the pictures, such as dustcarts and sports grounds. This has led Bond into some Paddington-esque sticky situations of his own, with security guards and even the police. “You can’t really take pictures these days without people accusing you of all sorts of things,” he says, rather bemused. Bond has no intention of retiring either himself or his bear. He has just published a new Paddington book, Love from Paddington , a collection of letters from the bear to his Aunt Lucy, and has completed three chapters of a new novel-length Paddington book. “If you’re a writer, people don’t expect you to retire. I don’t want to retire, and I’m very happy and very lucky that I’m working.

I don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t.” • Paddington is on general release. Book 5: ‘A Bear Called Paddington’ by Michael Bond. Recipe 6: Paddington Bear’s Favourite Marmalade Buns | The Cherry Cake Challenge The Cherry Cake Challenge combining children's literature and baking into one delicious challenge Feeds: May 13, 2010 by tea for two I have always had a great appreciation for Paddington Bear. I found his combination of luggage tags, marmalade and Darkest Peru very appealing. But primarily, when I was a child, I had a Paddington Bear ‘Bear’ who, at the time, was almost the same size as me. He stood in the corner of my bedroom wearing a real duffel coat (with beautiful toggles) and red wellington boots, which I always thought were rather impressive. He had a very old and brown luggage tag, that said ‘Please Look After This Bear’. My mum always told me he was very precious, as he was a gift to her due to the fact that her favourite book as a child was indeed Paddington.

His value is perhaps the reason for another Paddington in our home at the time – a knitted version handmade by my mum, which was the antitheses of the antique wellie-wearing Paddington and was wonderfully floppy in the way that many knitted soft toys are. Alas, he had no wellingtons. But he had a lovely knitted navy blue duffel coat. Therefore it is quite surprising that I don’t think I ever actually read the Paddington stories properly as a child. And now that I have the luxury of another go, I realise that Paddington is a wonderfully witty children’s literature character. At times I actually found myself laughing out loud, which may have looked fairly amusing to anyone watching, as the copy of the book I had was the most indiscreet hardback picture book, and there’s me chortling away to what is unmistakably a child’s book. (However if I really worried about such things I wouldn’t be embarking on this challenge!) It is difficult to decide which part of the book is my favourite. I loved the opening scene, where Mr and Mrs Brown discover Paddington at Paddington station, in the most politely British and proper manner. “A bear? On Paddington station?

Don’t be silly Henry, there can’t be!” But indeed there was. And Mr and Mrs Brown promise the stowaway from Darkest Peru marmalade every morning, which is simply wonderful, as marmalade is very expensive in Darkest Peru. Of course, after a long journey the only thing to do is head straight to a cafe for tea and cake, which results in a very sticky, although rather amusing, predicament for Paddington as he ends up covered in tea and sticky bun. Although for me, the best part of this stickiness is the taxi driver’s reaction, as the Brown family attempt to take Paddington home: “Bears is extra.” “Sticky bears is twice as much again.” Comic genius. This bit is highly contended by the shopping trip story, where Mrs Brown decides that Paddington would look lovely in a green woollen beret with a pom pom on top to match his new coat, and therefore whisks him off to the shops. However, I have concluded that my favourite element is Paddington’s interaction with Mr Gruber, who owns an antique shop on Portobello Road and enjoys inviting Paddington in for an elevenses of a cup of cocoa and a bun.

Which is of course where this elevenses recipe comes from, and also Jane Brocket’s favourite Paddington moment. Mr Gruber’s quote says it all: ”There’s nothing like a chat over a bun and cocoa,’ he used to say, and Paddington, who liked all three, agreed with him – even though the cocoa did make his whiskers go a funny colour.’ They spend hours discussing South America, which to me sounds wonderful, particularly being surrounded by antiques and clutching a mug of coca. I think the Paddington stories are so appealing, due to the relaxed attitude that all adults appear to have towards him. Initially they do seem to acknowledge that he is a bear, and therefore unexpected, however they then treat him as they would any other person,and this level of acceptance is what I love about children’s literature. A bear from Darkest Peru can visit the theatre with marmalade sandwiches in his suitcase, and travel by tube to buy a new hat. The graffiti in Bristol that I walk past each day on my way to work reminds me of this acceptance, and makes me wonder about the magic of children’s literature.

What is a crime however, it would seem, is using the wrong ingredients when baking marmalade buns. Now I am a firm believer in following a recipe exactly when it comes to cake baking, however my boyfriend Jon, is much more blaze. On this occasion though, I think his ‘mistake’ in the sugar purchasing was actually due to the fact that soft brown sugar was unavailable, and therefore instead he bought dark muscavado sugar. I should have known there would be problems, but at this juncture it was rather late in the evening (as is often the case when I am baking) and the cakes were for a belated birthday celebration for my mum, and therefore could not be delayed in order to re-visit the sugar shop. I pressed on and hoped for the best, but was met with an unusual result. The cakes began to bubble quite violently in a mysterious orangey zest liquid, as the already dark mixture darkened further and resulted in an interesting colour that was only just about maramaldedy.

However the real problem here was that I had decided to splash out and use my new silicone muffin tray , which is a gem of genius from Lakeland that allows you to pour the mixture straight into the tray and then place in the oven, without the need for paper cases. Apparently, ‘the results simply pop out’. Hm. Maybe not. My results remained very firmly stuck to the bottom, which led to me attempting to prise out as much cake as possible and salvage what became ‘very-dark- marmalade -and-only-half -a -marmalade bun.’ Unfortunately, I had quite grand plans, and hoped to give half of the cakes to my mum and half to one of my best friends Liz, who shared the birthday weekend. Alas, I had to turn up to her Scrabble party with the few cakes that I had decided to put into cases, that looked very brown and not very Paddingtony. This exercise did prove however that I am right; you DO need to follow the recipe. Highlighted further by the fact that I have actually already baked the marmalade buns, in March, with resounding success, and they were actually a specific choice due to their deliciousness.

Mum and Liz insisted they were yummy which of course is the main thing. So hurrah for Paddington, hurrah for marmalade, but not so hurrah for muscavado sugar and ‘magic’ silicone trays. Like this: Like Loading...

Question: With which antique dealer did Paddington Bear have his elevenses each day?
Answer: MR GRUBER