Paddington’s Creator
👶 Early Life & Beginnings
📍 Born: January 13, 1926 – Newbury, England
🎓 Studied at Presentation College, Reading
⚔️ Served in WWII: Royal Air Force & British Army
✍️ Becoming a Writer
📝 First story sold in 1945 – London Opinion magazine
📺 Worked as a BBC cameraman before writing full-time
🐻 The Birth of Paddington
🎄 Christmas Eve 1956 – Bought a small toy bear in a London shop
🏡 Named it Paddington after the station near his home
📖 Started writing stories just for fun—10 days later, he had a book!
📚 A Bear Called Paddington
📅 Published: October 13, 1958
✍️ Illustrated by Peggy Fortnum
🌍 Sold over 35 million copies, translated into 40+ languages (even Latin!)
🎖️ Awards & Legacy
🏅 1997 – OBE (Order of the British Empire)
🏅 2015 – CBE (Commander of the British Empire)
🏡 Lived in London for 37 years, close to Paddington Station
📆 Passed away on June 27, 2017, aged 91
🎥 Beyond Books
📺 Created The Herbs & Olga da Polga
🕵️ Wrote Monsieur Pamplemousse detective series
🎬 Inspired films, TV shows & a global Paddington fandom!
"Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform..."
"When I wrote those few words, I had no idea quite what a change they would eventually make to my life. It was really a case of putting something down on paper in order to get my brain working that morning."