Michael Bond

Thomas Michael Bond (13 January 1926 – 27 June 2017) was an English author. He is best known for a series of children's books featuring the character of Paddington Bear. More than 35 million books in the series have been sold worldwide, and the characters have also appeared in several animated television series, a film series, and a stage musical.

Early life Thomas Michael Bond was born on 13 January 1926 in Newbury, Berkshire. The Second World War was under way and he went to work in a solicitor's office for a year, and then as an engineer's assistant for the BBC.

On 10 February 1943 Bond survived an air raid in Reading. The building in which he was working collapsed under him, killing 41 people and injuring many more. Shortly afterwards he volunteered for aircrew service in the Royal Air Force as a 17-year-old, but he was discharged after being found to suffer from acute air sickness. He then served in the Middlesex Regiment of the British Army until 1947.

Author

Bond began writing in 1945, when he was stationed with the Army in Cairo, and sold his first short story to the magazine London Opinion. He was paid seven guineas and thought that he "wouldn't mind being a writer".

This was the start of Bond's series of books recounting the tales of Paddington Bear, a spectacled bear from "darkest Peru", whose Aunt Lucy sends him to the United Kingdom, carrying a jar of marmalade. In the first book the Brown family find the bear at Paddington Station, and adopt him, naming the bear after the station.

Paddington's adventures have sold over 35 million books, have been published in nearly 20 countries, in over 40 languages, and have inspired pop bands, race horses, plays, hot air balloons, movies and adaptations for television. Bond stated in December 2007 that he did not plan to continue the adventures of Paddington Bear in further volumes, but in April 2014 it was reported that a new book, entitled Love From Paddington, would be published that autumn. In Paddington, a 2014 film based on the books, Bond had a credited cameo as the Kindly Gentleman.

Bond also wrote another series of children's books, telling of the adventures of a guinea pig named Olga da Polga, who was named after the Bond family's pet,

On 20 June 2016 StudioCanal acquired the Paddington franchise outright. Bond was allowed to keep the publishing rights to his series, which he licensed in April 2017 to HarperCollins for the next six years.

Television writing Bond wrote two short films for the BBC: Simon's Good Deed, which was shown on 11 October 1955, and Napoleon's Day Out, shown on 9 April 1957. He also wrote one episode of the series The World Our Stage, an adaptation of the short story "The Decoration" by Guy de Maupassant, which aired on 4 January 1958.

His best known television work is as the creator and writer of the children's television series The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley, again for the BBC.

Honours Bond was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to children's literature, in the 1997 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours. On 6 July 2007 the University of Reading awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters.

On 10 January 2018 GWR named one of their Class 800 trains "Michael Bond / Paddington Bear".

Personal life and death Statue of Paddington Bear in Paddington Station following Michael Bond's death. Bond was married twice: to Brenda Mary Johnson in 1950, from whom he separated in the 1970s before divorcing in 1981; and to Susan Marfrey Rogers in 1981. He had two children. He lived in Little Venice, London, not far from Paddington Station, the place that inspired many of his books. In accordance with his wishes, he is buried in Paddington Old Cemetery,