Bears and Forebears: A Life So Far - Softcover

Bond, Michael

2.86

7 ratings by Goodreads

9780006387718: Bears and Forebears: A Life So Far

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006387713 ISBN 13: 9780006387718

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1997

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Michael Bond, the creator of Paddington Bear, was born in 1926 in Newbury, Berkshire. He left school at 14 to work as a radio engineer for the BBC until his career was interrupted by the war. In the war he served with both the Army and the RAF, and uses these experiences to paint an amusing picture of the unheroic side of World War II in this biography. In 1958, while back at the BBC as a full-time cameraman, he invented a small bear from Darkest Peru who was to change his life.

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From the Back Cover:

THE CREATOR OF PADDINGTON, THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BEAR, LETS US IN ON THE SECRETS BEHIND THE MARMALADE SANDWICHES

Since an auspicious day in 1957, when Michael Bond came up with an idea for a children's story, his life has been dominated by a small, duffle-coat wearing, marmalade-loving bear. Paddington has had a formative influence on millions of other lives since then and has remained a constant source of inspiration to his creator. But Paddington is just one in a whole range of characters – human and imaginary – who have shared Michael Bond's life.

In this warm and affectionate autobiography, Michael Bond takes us from his idyllic pre-war childhood in Reading, through war-time service with the RAF and the Army. He describes his career in the early years of the BBC and reveals how he discovered a talent for story-telling, which has brought us a host of written and televised classics, including The Herbs, Olga da Polga, an unusual guinea-pig, and Monsieur Pamplemousse and his faithful Pommes Frites.

‘In his chummy, largely unsentimental account of his mishaps and adventures, Bond takes us through a Wodehousian menagerie of uncles and aunts... his real, and enviable, genius is for never growing up’
PICO IYER, 'Times Literary Supplement'

‘This gently meandering memoir is rich in anecdote... endearingly Pooterish’
PENNY PERRICK, 'The Times'

‘A modest and very droll autobiography... full of nostalgia for gaslights and Brasso’
BORIS JOHNSON, 'Daily Telegraph'

‘Through this gently but candidly written book, Michael Bond reveals that the warm amiability of Paddington is also a major part of himself’
STUART GILLES, 'Manchester Evening News'

About the Author:

Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire in 1926 and educated at Presentation College, Reading. He served in the Royal Air Force and the British Army before working as a cameraman for BBC TV for 19 years. In 1997, he was awarded an OBE for his services to children’s literature.

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