Michael Bond, the creator of the bear from darkest Peru has died aged 91. He, we share illustrations by the artists who drew Paddington from 1958 to 2016
Wed 13 Jan 2016 03.30 EST Last modified on Wed 19 Oct 2022 11.05 EDT
Peggy Fortnum
In 1956, Michael Bond bought a small bear left alone on a shelf in Selfridges for his wife’s Christmas present. He called him Paddington after the station closest to his home and the bear inspired Michael Bond to write eight stories in a week. Today it’s Michael Bond’s 90th birthday. To celebrate we have some beautiful Paddington illustrations through the ages. was the very first person to draw Paddington. She was commissioned to illustrate ‘A Bear Called Paddington’, published in 1958, and went on to illustrate the rest of the novels in the series.
All Peggy Fortnum’s wonderfully distinctive pen and ink drawings were originally done in black and white, some of her work has subsequently been coloured by other artists, including her own niece, Caroline Nuttal-Smith.
Ah we couldn’t resist sharing this, Peggy Fortnum’s drawing of poor Paddington when he first rocks up at Paddington station, all alone and all the way from Darkest Peru, poor Padders!
In 1972, Michael Bond wrote the first in a series of books for younger readers. Since these were picture books, requiring a much more detailed illustrative style than the novels, a different artist was used. Fred Banbery illustrated a total of six Paddington picture books.
In addition to designing the puppet for the original Paddington television series, Ivor Wood developed a drawn cartoon image of Paddington, which was first published in 1975.
This version of Paddington by Ivor Wood was used in a series of four frame strip cartoons which were published in the London Evening News in the late 1970s.
In the 1980s Michael Bond wrote a further series of Paddington picture books for younger readers. These were designed in a smaller format than the first picture books and a new artist was used. The person chosen was David McKee who was already well known for writing and illustrating his own books, including King Rollo, Elmer the Elephant and Mr Benn.
He was an in-house artist with Paddington & Co Ltd for a number of years and did the artwork for quite a number of the older products and some of the prints in the 1980s. He also illustrated “Paddington on Screen”, a compilation of stories from the Blue Peter annuals.
RW (or Bob) Alley has been illustrating the Paddington books since the 1990s. His artwork now appears on the full range of picture books, many of which have been re-illustrated by him in recent years. Although best known for his full colour work, Bob Alley’s delightful pen and ink line drawings appear throughout the pages of the latest novels, including Love From Paddington, Michael Bond’s most recent Paddington Bear novel.
Although best known for his full colour work, Bob Alley’s delightful pen and ink line drawings appear throughout the pages of the latest novels, including Love From Paddington, Michael Bond’s most recent Paddington Bear novel.
In 2014 Paddington enjoyed his big screen debut in Paddington. Officially the most successful non-Hollywood movie ever, Paddington’s first film has also taken the number one slot in the DVD charts for 2015. Michael Bond’s beloved creation was brought faithfully to life by Studio Canal and the Oscar-winning special effects team behind Harry Potter.
The late Michael Bond with his creation. His daughter Karen Jankel told the Guardian: “The whole world is lucky to have had him … Paddington himself is so real to all of us, he’s still a part of our family and we’re very lucky.”
