Paddington Bear - Talking honeybear who travels to England from Darkest Peru on the Sunday morning cartoon series PADDINGTON BEAR (aired in 1989 as part of THE FUNTASTIC WORLD Of HANNA BARBERA). Paddington (voice of Charlie Adler) lives with the Brown family at 32 Windsor Gardens in London. The Brown's found him lost at the Paddington Railway station (hence his nickname) and took him home to raise as their child. Paddington's favorite food is marmalade. The Brown family consists of Mr. Henry Brown, Mrs. Mary Brown and their children, Jonathan and Judy. They also have a housekeeper, Mrs. Bird. Paddington celebrates two birthdays: Christmas Day and June 25th. A few years earlier in 1981 PBS aired PADDINGTON BEAR, a half-hour puppet stop-animation series created by FilmFair Animation/and Paddington & Co. Production produced by George Clutterback. Narrated by Sir Michael Hordern, the segments were introduced by Oscar-winning actor Joel Grey. Film Fair had also produced 30 five-minute episodes in 1975 for the BBC1. Additional half-hour Paddington specials aired on the Disney Channel between 1985 and 1986. They included Paddington's Birthday Bonanza, Paddington Goes to the Movies and Paddington Goes to School. The Paddington character debuted in the book "A Bear Called Paddington" (Published October 13th, 1958) written by popular English children's author Michael Bond. As the story goes, on December 24, 1956, Michael Bond purchased a real teddy bear at Selfridge's Store in London for his wife, Brenda. He named the bear Paddington because he was living near Paddingtion Station at the time. Inspired by the sweet teddy bear, Bond wrote a series of stories that were eventually published in hardback by William Collins Publisher. And the rest is history. In 1969 a rock group in New Zealand named themselves "The Paddington Bears." In 1971 a Paddington bear designed by Shirley Clarkson debuted with Paddington wearing his trademark duffle coat, felt hat and Wellington Boots. In 1988 Paddington's official biography "The Life and Times of Paddington Bear" by Russel Ash (with Michael Bond) was published by Pavilion Books. In 1990 a 29-foot tall Paddington balloon flew in the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. In 1996, Harper Collins published Michael Bond's autobiography "Bears & Forebears - A Life So Far." In 1997 a new 13-episode series of Paddington programs were produced by Cinar Films and transmitted by ITV in the UK and Teletoon in Canada. In 2000 a life-sized bronze statue of Paddington Bear was unveiled by Michael Bond at Paddington train station in London.

Paddington arrives in London	Paddington Teddy Bear Doll