Paddington Bear

Paddington Bear, also known as Paddington Brown, or even "Puddington", is a fictional character in British children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in A Bear Called Paddington by British author Michael Bond. He has been featured in 29 books written by Bond, the last of which, Paddington at St. Paul's, was published posthumously in 2018. The books have been illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, David McKee, R. W. Alley, and other artists.

The friendly, anthropomorphised spectacled bear from "darkest Peru"—with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffel coat and love of marmalade sandwiches—has become a classic character in British children's literature. Paddington is always polite—addressing people as "Mr", "Mrs", and "Miss", but rarely by first names—and kindhearted, though he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval. He has an endless capacity for innocently getting into trouble, but is known to "try so hard to get things right". After being discovered in London Paddington station by the Brown family, he was adopted and named "Paddington Brown", as his original name in bear language was too hard for the (human) Browns to pronounce.

Paddington has become one of the most beloved British fictional characters—a Paddington Bear stuffed toy was chosen by British tunnellers as the first item to pass through to their French counterparts when the two sides of the Channel Tunnel were linked in 1994, and the Bear appeared with Queen Elizabeth II in a pre-recorded comedy segment for the Platinum Party at the Palace in 2022—and the Paddington books have been translated into 30 languages across 70 titles, with a total of more than 30 million copies sold worldwide. As of June 2016, the Paddington Bear franchise was owned by Canal+'s StudioCanal, though Bond continued to own the publishing rights to his series, which was licensed to HarperCollins in 2017.

Since his first appearance on the BBC in 1976, Paddington Bear has been adapted for television, films, the stage and commercials. Television adaptations include Paddington, broadcast from 1976 to 1980. The critically acclaimed and commercially successful films Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017) were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. A third film in the series, Paddington in Peru, was released in 2024. A stage adaptation, Paddington: The Musical, premiered at the Savoy Theatre in the West End in 2025.

Michael Bond based Paddington Bear on a lone teddy bear that he noticed on a shelf in a London shop—with Bond saying "it looked rather forlorn"—on Christmas Eve 1956, which he bought as a present for his wife. On the bear's refugee status, Bond was inspired by the sight, during World War II, of Jewish refugee children from Europe arriving in Britain and of London children who were being evacuated to the countryside, the evacuees bearing luggage labels perhaps similar to that attached to the bear Paddington "Please look after this bear". Bond reflects, "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 bear inspired Bond to write a story and in ten days, he had written the first book. He named the bear Paddington as he lived near the station at the time and thought it would be a good name for the character. Bond's daughter Karen states, "Had he lived in another part of the country or not travelled by train, he might never have come up with the idea for a bear being found on Paddington station." The book was given to his agent, Harvey Unna. A Bear Called Paddington was first published on 13 October 1958 by William Collins & Sons.

The first Paddington Bear stuffed toy to be manufactured was created in 1972 by Gabrielle Designs, a small family business run by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson, with the prototype made as a Christmas present for their children Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson, a now well-known British TV presenter, writer and farmer. Michael Bond had awarded the Clarksons the licensing of the toy rights throughout the world.

Shirley Clarkson dressed the stuffed bear in Wellington boots to help it stand upright. (Paddington received Wellingtons for Christmas in Paddington Marches On, 1964.) The earliest bears wore small children's boots manufactured by Dunlop Rubber until production could not meet demand. Gabrielle Designs then produced their boots with paw prints moulded into the soles. Shirley Clarkson's book describes the evolution of the toy Paddington from a Christmas gift to the subject of litigation and ultimately commercial success. The family eventually sold the rights to Britain's (and the world's) oldest toy store, Hamleys.