Paddington Bear To Be Quizzed Over Immigration Status

First Published Saturday December 08 2007

Paddington Bear is to be arrested and quizzed about his immigration status in a new book due to published next year, according to a report on the theBookseller.com website.

Written by Paddington creator Michael Bond Paddington Here and Now will see the bear unable to provide police with any immigration papers as he entered the country as a stowaway onboard a ship’s lifeboat.

The new book marks 50 years since the iconic bear made his debut in A Bear Called Paddington and will be the first new Paddington novel in almost 30 years.

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Mr Bond, 83, was said to be reluctant at the prospect of writing his first novel about him for 29 years – unless he had a strong contemporary storyline.

How much can Paddington bear? The stowaway will be arrested by police and interrogated over his immigration status

The new book is again set around their home at 32 Windsor Gardens, Notting Hill, and revisits the stalls in Portobello Road where Paddington shared cocoa and buns with another immigrant, Mr Gruber, the Hungarian antiques dealer.

After being arrested, Paddington has no papers proving his identity because his Aunt Lucy had arranged for him to hide on a ship’s lifeboat from Peru after she went to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima.

He told theBookseller.com: “One of the very nice things about chronicling Paddington’s adventures is that although the world has changed considerably over the past 30 years, he remains exactly the same; eternally optimistic and ever open to what life has to offer. It makes writing the stories a pleasure.”

Paddington Here and Now will have a cover illustration by Peggy Fortnum, 85, who did the first drawings of Paddington.

The 50th anniversary will also be marked by reissues of the novels and picture books and a new title, My Book of Marmalade.