Paddington Bear (novel)
Please Look After This Bear. Thank You.
A series of books first appearing in 1958, written by Michael Bond, about the antics of a small anthropomorphic brown bear who lives with an ordinary London family. Paddington is usually seen wearing a blue duffel coat (a somewhat old-fashioned warm coat fastened by toggles) and rather shapeless black hat (though more modern versions sometimes give him a red hat instead, or even reverse the colours for a blue hat and red coat).
Paddington books continued to be written throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and spawned a TV series of 5 minute shorts that ran from 1975 to 1986. The unique visual style (Paddington himself is a stop-motion figure, the backgrounds are black-and-white line drawings and the other characters are 2D paper cutouts) and catchy theme tune led to it becoming a well-loved childhood favourite.
- Accidental Bid: Paddington Bear once went to an auction. He found it a very friendly place. People kept on waving at him, so naturally he waved back...
- Cool Old Guy: Mr. Gruber
- Crossover: Two books featured Paddington's adventures with the cast of Blue Peter, for which Michael Bond worked as a cameraman.
- Death Glare: Paddington's "hard stare"
- Door Step Baby: The Browns found him sitting on the platform of Paddington Station, near the lost property office, with a label round his neck bearing the words "Please Look After This Bear. Thank You."
- Everything's Worse with Bears: Averted, yet also played straight in a mild way. Paddington is courteous, completely non-violent, and freaking adorable, yet has quite a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble, whether it's accidentally destroying his neighbor's hammock, letting a marmalade sandwich slip inside a film projector, or trashing the kitchen with one of his sloppy baking attempts.
- Fish Out of Water: One of the main sources of humor and plot. Paddington emigrated from Darkest Peru and thus is very unfamiliar with British life.
- Grumpy Old Man: Mr. Curry
- Lions and Tigers and Humans, Oh My!
- Nice Hat
- Misplaced Wildlife: Paddington is a bear from Peru, but looks like a a brown bear from the Northern Hemisphere.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Marmalade.
- Weirdness Censor: Everyone in London seems surprisingly cool that the Browns have adopted a bear. That talks.
Taxi Driver: Bears is sixpence extra. Sticky bears is ninepence.