Paddington Bear - Britain's furry favourite reaches 50

  • Published
  • By Suzanne Harper
  • 48th Fighter Wing public affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  The topic of immigration can be a hot one on both sides of the Atlantic. However, this year Britain celebrates arguably its most beloved illegal immigrant who arrived 50 years ago from Darkest Peru. 

Paddington Bear arrived in the U.K. following the wishes of his Great Aunt Lucy, whose advanced age had required her to enter a Home for Retired Bears in Peru - but not before she had taught her great nephew how to speak English. The bold young bear was found by the Brown family on the platform of Paddington Station in London with a note attached saying: "Please look after this bear. Thank you," and as his adventures unfold, we find him to be the most well-mannered of bears, easily confused, often outraged at injustice and yet always maintaining his dignity. 

The first Paddington Bear story was published in 1958. Paddington's creator, Michael Bond, is 82. Together they have sold more than 35 million books in 40 languages. When Bond put the 'please-look-after-this-bear' label around Paddington's neck, he was thinking mostly of the child refugees in wartime Britain and Europe. He had seen cinema newsreels of refugees pushing all their belongings across the countryside. That was the first image he had of Paddington: left alone with all his belongings in a small suitcase on a station platform. 

Even though Paddington is a Peruvian migrant, many have always thought of the marmalade-munching, bi-lingual bear as more English than fish and chips. Well spoken, ever polite with a heart of gold, he remains a great role model and his adventures are much loved by children of all ages. 

Now Bond has written a new full-length Paddington book, which throws the much-loved bear with the hard stare into the mad modern world. It is the first new Paddington adventure in thirty years but no doubt our intrepid furry hero will meet new challenges with his characteristic warmth and friendliness. 

Throughout his golden year, Paddington has been making appearances across the U.K. in aid of many charity events and if you keep your eyes peeled, he will no doubt be making many more. I have a feeling that Paddington Bear will be a round for a long time come and I think that will certainly make the future much more 'bearable' for us all. 

As the bear-lovers amongst us know, bears never grow old; they just collect birthdays.