Michael Bond
Michael Bond the author of Paddington Bear
The creator of the most famous marmalade eating, suitcase carrying bear in the world, Michael Bond never set out to be a childrens author. It was only after writing for magazines, radio and television that suddenly one Christmas Eve he stumbled upon a lonely little bear in a London toy store.
Michael bought the bear and took it home as a present for his wife Brenda, naming it Paddington because they lived near the station of the same name.Within ten days of owning Paddington the Bear, Michael found he already had a book on his hands.
By 1965 Michael gave up his full time cameraman job at the BBC in order to write full time:
"The great advantage of having a bear as a central character is that he can combine the innocence of a child with the sophistication of an adult. Padding is not the sort of bear who would ever go to the moon - he has his paws too firmly on the ground for that. He gets involved in everyday situations. He has a strong sense of right and wrong and doesn’t take kindly to the red-tape bureaucracy of the sillier rules and regulations with which we humans surround ourselves. As a bear, he gets away with things. Paddington is humanised, but he couldn’t possible be a human - it just wouldn’t work"
The Paddington books have sold all over the world and have therefore been translated in nearly thirty different languages. in total, he has written nearly 150 books, including his autobiography, ’Bears and Forebears’ published in the UK by HarperCollins.
In July 1997 Michael Bond was awarded the OBE for this services to children’s literature. He is married with two grown-up children and lives not far from Paddington station, in London’s Little Venice.
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