Please look after his bear

[EIM]

Michael Bond has died. What a shame, but what a legacy.

[EIM]

I absolutely love this interview with him. He comes across as such a quintessentially British gent, but with such an obvious streak of kindness in him. (“It’s very odd,” exclaimed Paddington’s 88-year-old creator, Michael Bond, on hearing the news. “I’d be very upset at bad language, it would stop me sleeping well. And I can’t think what the sex references could be.”)

But really it's this line that gets to the heart of it:

"“I remember their labels round their necks and then I remember going to the cinema and seeing on the newsreel that Hitler had moved into some new country and seeing footage of elderly people pushing prams with all their belongings in them. Refugees are the saddest sight, I still think that.”"

I bought my niece a Paddington Bear for Christmas a year ago. It was a two-pronged attack. Firstly education on the simple beauty of the duffle coat, and secondly a sly indoctrination into caring for immigrants and refugees. Or anyone that needs your help, really. It's never too early to brainwash a child imho.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/f...n-down....html

[Guy Profumo]

Ok. Probably "world news" rather than books

I'll hold my hand up.

[Benjm]

Very sad news. Paddington is a fantastic creation, right in the top rank of kids' characters.

I watched the recent, quite faithful, film at Christmas. It can only have been a couple of years old but I was really saddened how starkly the openness and compassion in MB's vision contrasted with the nastiness and aggression of the referendum campaign and aftermath. The film was great, not po-faced or preachy at all, but it was hard not to make the comparison.

Reckon we should all pile round to Mr Gruber's and get stoked on buns and cocoa.

[EIM]

No one ever goes in books. He deserves better.

[tee rex]

I'd forgotten that he wrote The Herbs as well. Haven't forgotten the songs though, that's one earworm that will remain long after I can't remember what day it is.

I'd have guessed that Paddington was written a few years earlier. Contender for Best Bear Award, streets ahead of drips like Rupert and Pooh.

[EIM]

Very sad news. Paddington is a fantastic creation, right in the top rank of kids' characters.

I watched the recent, quite faithful, film at Christmas. It can only have been a couple of years old but I was really saddened how starkly the openness and compassion in MB's vision contrasted with the nastiness and aggression of the referendum campaign and aftermath. The film was great, not po-faced or preachy at all, but it was hard not to make the comparison.

Reckon we should all pile round to Mr Gruber's and get stoked on buns and cocoa.

I sat to watch it, and was shocked to see in the opening scene a mate I used to drink with when I worked in a bar in London. He played the explorer.

Loved the film. Cried at it. But then I cry at adverts these days so it's not entirely unexpected.

[Crusoe]

I loved the film. Didn't really get into the books much. We've read the first one to my daughter a few times - it's one of those later editions where they update the illustrations, I think an early 1980s version, which is jarring.

In a small way I feel bad that my most vivid memory is the film, but then again it's a testament to the character that's Paddington is both quintessentially 'old world' English yet manages to be more liberated, civilised, humane and open-minded than most of society seems to be today.

[ursus arctos]

Terribly sad, but 91 is a more than decent innings, and he made his runs count

RIP

[Paul S]

I loved Paddington when I was young and the animated series was wonderful. My favourite was the one where he went through a door into a theatre and did Singing in the Rain. I still smile at the thought of that one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHg6QjhvsCM

Also on twitter:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/pleaselo...sbear?src=hash

[Janik]

On holiday to Peru, I found a Paddington key ring in a tourist tat stall. Which made me very happy. He was clipped on to my rucksack when walking the Inca Trail... and fell off somewhere along it. Must have been homesick. But equally, my bear care was insufficient.

[Paul S]

A quote on the Guardian website:

Forget Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig. Michael was the best Bond of all.

[Patrick Thistle]

Randomly I was at Paddington Station today and went into the nice Paddington shop there. They had a Book of Condolence out. It's the first time I've ever signed one of those.

I bought Mrs Thistle a t-shirt. She is also a big fan of Paddington and I knew she'd be sad at the news too.

[Hot Pepsi]

My kindergarten teacher was wayyyyy into teddy bears*, so I recall reading all of the bear-based stories a lot, especially Paddington and Corduroy. My mom made me a really nice Paddington from scratch - coat, hat, name tag, etc - and also I had a Corduroy that was a bear my mom bought and then made a green corduroy outfit for. We still have them. They're part of a collection of bears we have out as part of the Christmas decorations, many of them made by my mom. She's good at making bears.

I didn't know Michael Bond was still alive and I didn't know there were so many Paddington stories by him. I really liked the movie.

*In fact, after quitting teaching she ran a small shop in downtown State College called Books & Bears that just sold children's books and stuffed animals. But she retired from that about 25 years ago.

[Sam]

I didn't realise he was still alive either, but I'll be sure to give Paddington's nose a rub when I pass through the station named after him in August. RIP.