Author of the Month: Michael Bond (13 January 1926 – 27 June 2017)
This year is the 60th anniversary of Paddington Bear’s creation. You may know about Paddington Bear, but how much do you know about Michael Bond, the creator of Paddington Bear?
Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire, England on 13th January 1926. He was educated at Presentation College but he completed his schooling at the age of 14 only. He went to work in a solicitor’s office for a year and then started his career at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
When Michael Bond served in the British Army in 1945, he wrote his first short story and submitted it to the magazine London Opinion. This experienced was not only inspired him to continued to write short stories and plays, but also encouraged him to be a full time writer in the future.
On Christmas Eve in 1956, Michael Bond found a teddy bear in a London store near Paddington Station and felt sorry for it as it was the only one left on the shelf. Then he bought it as a Christmas present for his wife and named the bear after the station. One day, he sat at a typewriter and stared at a blank sheet of paper. Then he saw Paddington Bear in the house and many fun ideas popped into his head. He decided to write stories about Paddington Bear and integrated his childhood memories and wartime experiences into the stories.
On 13th October 1958, Michael Bond published his first book “A Bear Called Paddington” and continued to write Paddington stories. In 1965, he gave up his stable job at BBC to become a full time as a writer. His life proved he made the right choice. Nowadays, Paddington books have been translated into more than 40 languages including Latin and sold over 35 million books around the world.
Michael Bond was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1997 and was made an honorary doctor of letters by Reading University in 2007 for his services to children’s literature. He kept writing until he died on 27th June 2017, aged 91. His last book, Paddington at St Paul’s, will be published in June 2018. Please come to the CAIS Library and check out our selection of Bond’s books.
Reference:
Michael Bond, the creator of Paddington. (2017). Retrieved May 11, 2018, from https://www.paddington.com/global/heritage/michael-bond/
