PADDINGTON BEAR

In Leicester square

Like many others outside the UK, I was surprised that a bear appeared together with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for the celebration of her 70 years of reign in 2022. Now I know better, it was Paddington Bear himself, the fictional and popular character invented by the author Michael Bond in 1958 when the first book about the bear was released. After publishing another 26 books about Paddington, which by the way have become translated into 30 languages, the bear is more or less looked upon as a national treasure in British children’s literature.

The plot is as follows; Paddington is a friendly, polite bear from Peru who has an endless capacity for innocently getting into trouble. In addition, he does always keep a marmalade sandwich under his hat in case of emergencies. He was found in London at Paddington station by the nice Brown family who adopted him. They could however not pronounce his real name, so they gave him the name Paddington Brown – after the station where he was discovered.

Besides, the films Paddington 1 (2014) and 2 (2017) have both been big successes, with actors like Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Grant. I especially enjoy the second one, it is for sure a real feel good film.

I was in London recently and had to pay Paddington Bear a visit. He is seated both in Leicester Square and at Paddington train station. At Leicester he is accompanied with many other film stars – all made in bronze.

Also I went into Waterstones (one out of many well-known bookstores in London) and bought the first book in the series. I have decided that Paddington Brown definitely is worth getting to know better.


Most British people know and love Paddington Bear, so it was very fitting for him to have afternoon tea and marmalade sandwiches with another national treasure, the late Queen Elizabeth the second. Here is the pre-recorded video that was shown on big screens to the tens of thousands celebrating outside the palace and to the millions of people watching all around the world. Enjoy the beautiful interior decorations in the palace while watching their cute meeting from here !

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