Paddington Bear turns 50

I found out today that Paddington Bear is about to turn 50.

To be honest, I’m more familiar with Paddington the TV star, than the one featured in Michael Bond’s books. I still can’t haul on galoshes without flashing back to Paddington’s clunky red pair. He really was a staple of childhood, waiting to be watched at 3.30 every afternoon between Sesame Street and Chocky.

This was in the mid-80s. Turns out, Paddington has been around a whole lot longer than that. Michael Bond is still around, too, and is excited to celebrate his character’s anniversary with Paddington: Here and Now, the first Paddington book published in 30 years. Bond had this to say about the bear and his new book:

One of the very nice things about chronicling Paddington’s adventures is that although the world has changed considerably over the past 30 years, he remains exactly the same — eternally optimistic and ever open to what life has to offer.

The Telegraph talks Paddington here, and there’s a great story about the creation of Paddington Bear teddies over at Times Online.