A Bear Called Paddington (Michael Bond)

The original story of everyone's favourite bear, Paddington, now a major movie star!

"A bear on Paddington Station?" said Mrs Brown in amazement. "Don't be silly - there can't be."

Paddington Bear had travelled all the way from Darkest Peru when the Brown family first met him on Paddington station. Since then their lives have never been quite the same... for ordinary things become quite extraordinary when a bear called Paddington is involved.

For more than sixty years, Paddington Bear has touched the hearts of adults and children worldwide with his earnest good intentions and humorous misadventures.

Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire on 13 January 1926 and educated at Presentation College, Reading. He served in the Royal Air Force and the British Army before working as a cameraman for BBC TV for 19 years. In 2015, Michael was awarded a CBE for his services to children's literature, to add to the OBE he received in 1997. Michael died in 2017, leaving behind one of the great literary legacies of our time.

Peggy Fortnum was born in 1919 in Harrow, England, the youngest of six children. She graduated from the Central School of Art in London after the war interrupted her studies at Tunbridge Wells Art School, then worked as an art teacher, painter and textile designer before becoming a full-time book illustrator.