Well I’ve found a possible traveling buddy! I was randomly looking online for toys for inspiration and came across this wee fella and was immediately taken back to the stories Mum and Dad used to tell me about his adventures!    PLUS after investigating him further just now I was amazed to find out that he has the same birthday as me!! 25th June haha so I mean that kinda clinched it for me!

Who is Paddington Bear???

Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children’s literature. He first appeared in 1958 and was subsequently featured in several books written by Michael Bond and first illustrated by Peggy Fortnum. The polite immigrant bear from Darkest Peru, with his old bush hat, battered suitcase and marmalade sandwiches has become a classic English children’s literature icon. Paddington books have been translated into thirty languages across seventy titles and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Over 265 licensees, making thousands of different products across the UK, Europe, USA, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and South Africa all benefit from the universal recognition of Paddington Bear. 

Paddington Bear

 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), 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”.

Although Paddington now lives in London, England, he originally came from Darkest Peru where he was brought up by his Aunt Lucy after he was orphaned following an earthquake when he was just a few weeks old.

When Aunt Lucy went to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima, she decided to send him to England to live. After teaching him to speak English she arranged for him to stow away in a ship’s lifeboat.

Eventually, Paddington arrived on Paddington Station in London which is where the very first story begins with the words:

“Mr. and Mrs. Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform. In fact, that was how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear for Paddington was the name of the station.”

The Browns were at the station to meet their daughter Judy when Mr. Brown spotted a bear sitting all alone on a suitcase, behind a pile of mail bags, close to the lost property office. The bear was wearing nothing but a hat and he had a label round his neck bearing the words “Please Look After This Bear. Thank You.”

Unable to resist such a simple request, Mr. and Mrs. Brown took Paddington home to live with them at 32 Windsor Gardens with their two children, Jonathan and Judy and their housekeeper, Mrs. Bird.

The Browns decided to name their new member of the family Paddington, after the place where he was found, although we later learn that in Peru his name was Pastuso.

When he was found, Paddington wasn’t too sure how old he was so the Browns decided to start again at one. They also decided that he should have two birthdays a year (just like the Queen!) and so he celebrates these on 25th June and 25th December.