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Lovable - Having the attitude of kindness and gratitude with a charming disposition.
Michael Bond’s birthday is on January 13th.
Thomas Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire, England; was educated at Presentation College, Reading; and served in the Royal Air Force and the Middlesex Regiment of the British Army. In 1945, while working as a BBC cameraman, he wrote and sold his first story to a magazine called the London Opinion.
On Christmas Eve 1956 he rescued a small stuffed bear, left alone on a shelf in London’s Selfridge’s store, and brought him home to his wife. This incident touched Mr. Bond, inspiring many wonderful stories about the human condition, stories whose natural audience was children: “One of the nice things about writing for children is their total acceptance of the fantastic,” he says. The bear was named Paddington after the train station near Mr. Bond’s home.
Paddington is known for setting out on adventures clad in a blue duffel coat, wellies (galoshes), and a hat, with a note pinned to his jacket that reads, “Please look after this bear. Thank you.” Observing the polite, gracious, courteous, respectful, and well-meaning behavior of Paddington offers a glimpse into the very heart of his creator, who says that Paddington “has a strong sense of right and wrong and doesn’t take kindly to the red tape bureaucracy of the sillier rules and regulations with which we humans surround ourselves.” In fact, his creator has invested Paddington with many human qualities: “Paddington to me is, and always has been, very much alive.”
Mr. Bond left the BBC in 1965 to write full-time. Paddington’s adventures have sold over 35 million books in over 40 languages, with over 25 million plush Paddington bears sold worldwide. In the 1970s, Mr. Bond branched out into television, creating fifty-six episodes for the BBC’s Paddington children’s show (in one, Paddington danced with Gene Kelly to “Singin’ in the Rain”). In addition, Paddington’s big screen debut is scheduled for January 2015, with the release of the Paddington movie.
All told, Mr. Bond has been writing about the small bear from Darkest Peru for over fifty years. “The great advantage of having a bear as a central character,” he says, “is that he can combine the innocence of a child with the sophistication of an adult.”
Mr. Bond continues to live in London, near Paddington Station, with his wife and Paddington Bear. He has two adult children.