Paddington Bear is a stowaway bear found alone and lost at Paddington Station.

He arrives from darkest Peru, with an old hat, battered suitcase, duffle coat and marmalade sandwiches and becomes a classic character in English children’s literature.

Paddington Bear Statue, Paddington Station, london

This famous fictional character first appeared on 13 October 1958 and subsequently featured in more than twenty books written by Michael Bond and first illustrated by Peggy Fortnum.

Bond based Paddington Bear on a lone teddy bear which he noticed on a shelf in a London store near Paddington Station on Christmas Eve 1956, which he bought as a present for his wife. The bear inspired Bond to write a story, and in 10 days he had written the first book.

Bond said afterwards that his memories of newsreels showing trainloads of child evacuees leaving London during the war, with labels around their necks and their possessions in small suitcases, prompted him to do the same for Paddington.

Linked to Cee’s Black and White Challenge: Alone.