NewsuK

He is probably one of the friendliest refugees that ever stepped foot onto the platform of Paddington railway station. But even though fifty years has past he does not appear to have changed that much, in fact to celebrate his anniversary he is about to get a renewed life.

Mr Bond, who lives near Paddington, in central London, said: “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.

“It makes writing the stories a pleasure.”

Paddington bear is based on real refugees, Mr Bond said: “I saw those cinema newsreels of refugees pushing all their belongings across the countryside. People uprooted in mid-life. I see it again in Darfur – the worst thing is there is nowhere to escape to. That was the first image I had of Paddington, left alone with all his belongings in a small suitcase on a station platform.”

But fifty years on the bear is coming back, Michael Bond said; “I haven’t written a long one for nearly 30 years, wasn’t planning to, but the publishers asked me for the 50th birthday.”

“I wouldn’t take an advance for it,”

“I wanted to be sure it worked. If a disaster hadn’t befallen Paddington within a few pages, something would have been terribly wrong. But it did.”

Happy Birthday, Paddington!

Source [Times]

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