Paddington Bear

Paddington Bear, also known as Paddington Brown, is an anthropomorphic bear in British children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in A Bear Called Paddington by British author Michael Bond. He has been featured in 29 books written by Bond, the last of which, Paddington at St. Paul's, was published posthumously in 2018. The books have been illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, David McKee, R. W. Alley, and other artists.

The friendly spectacled bear from "darkest Peru"—with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffel coat and love of marmalade sandwiches—has become a classic character in British children's literature. Paddington is always polite—addressing people as "Mr", "Mrs", and "Miss", but rarely by first names—and kindhearted, though he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval. He has an endless capacity for innocently getting into trouble, but is known to "try so hard to get things right". After being discovered in London Paddington station by the Brown family, he was adopted and named "Paddington Brown", as his original name in bear language was too hard for the (human) Browns to pronounce.