Happy Birthday Paddington Bear!

Happy Birthday Paddington Bear! Paddington, one of my favorite children’s book characters, turns 50 years old today. On Christmas Eve 1956, while looking for a gift for his wife, English author Michael Bond saw a teddy bear on the shelf of a store inside the Paddington Railway Station in London. The toy inspired him to write a story about a little bear in a blue coat, yellow hat and a tag marked "Please Look After this Bear" discovered by an English family at the Paddington Railway Station. The book, A Bear Called Paddington, was published on this day in 1958. Since then 10 collections of Paddington stories have been published in 30 languages to the joy of millions of children and adults (including this one) around the world. The Paddington Railway Station contains a bronze statue of the bear in his honor.

Paddington is an exceedingly polite bear with a fondness for marmalade (my mom explained it to me back then as "British Jelly") and a knack for doing the wrong thing while trying very hard to do right. I was a klutzy kid who talked too loud, tripped over his own feet but was acutely sensitive to upsetting others (little has changed). I’ve also had a special fondness for bears since age 6 when my first grade teacher nicknamed me "Smokey." Pair that with Paddington’s blue and yellow wardrobe, colors matching those of my beloved University of Michigan, and I didn’t stand a chance. Paddington and I became best friends and remained so for many years until i gave my room a "teenagers makeover" at 14 and put away childish things.

As an adult, I feel more than comfortable bringing them back. So I believe I’m going to purchase a Paddington Bear in honor of his birthday. He will reside comfortably with the Winnie the Pooh that sits on my nightstand and Snuggle Bear, a little white polar bear I bought for my girlfriend last year at Kip’s Toyland in Los Angeles.

Happy Birthday, my dear Paddington, from an old and new best friend. And if you out there have your own  Paddington Bear stories, I’d love to hear them.

• Category: Back in the Day