A Bear Called Paddington

It was the eve of Christmas in 1956. Not a very well-known writer named Michael Bond was in a big London department store when he spotted an unwanted toy teddy bear. Bond bought the bear and named him Paddington—after the nearby railway station. Then came several stories about the adventures of this amusing bear, who arrived straight from Darkest Peru to Paddington Station.

That’s how a new literary symbol of England was born—books about him have been translated into forty languages, he has a monument right there at the same station, and tourists buy the little toy bears in blue coats by the dozen. Paddington’s adventures have been continuing for more than fifty years—because, well, that’s just the kind of bear he is! Where he is, there’s never any boredom.