A list of three V.1.8.s

Press, 14 January 1986, Page 18

A list of three V.1.8.s

Three of the most loved and most popular bears in the world are Pooh, Paddington, and Rupert. Rupert Bear is the oldest of the three bears, born 1920, in Britain. His adventures were serialised in the “Daily Express” newspaper from that year, and have been published in 18 languages. Mary Courtel, wife of the “Daily Express” night editor, first created Rupert, as a rival to the “Daily Mail” newspaper’s Teddy Tail. Rupert became a national hero, with his own

fan club. In 1935, Mary Courtel’s eyesight failed and Alfred Bestall continued drawing the character for the next 30 years. Since then, Rupert has been created by a team of artists.

It is thought that more than a hundred million books about Rupert — dubbed the Mickey Mouse of Britain — have been sold. WINNIE THE POOH was born in Britain in 1926. The original Pooh, bought at Harrods in 1920, now patched and stitched, has

his home in a showcase in New York.

A. A. Milne wrote about his son, Christopher Robin, and Christopher’s bear, Pooh (the one his mother bought for his first birthday at Harrods). Christopher Robin’s mother wrote the stories as A. A. Milne dictated them, and thus Pooh came to life, along with Christopher Robin’s other nursery friends — a piglet, a stuffed donkey, and a tiger. Pooh apparently did not like the A. A. Milne work, “When We Were Very Young.” Christopher Robin told his mother, Daphne, one day that Pooh was sulking face down on the

floor because he did not like the book as he could not keep up with the verses. PADDINGTON BEAR is British also, and was born in 1956. P.B. is quite famous, his story having been translated into some 20 languages. It took two years of trying for P.B.’s creator, Michael Bond, to have his bear’s adventures published. Paddington Bear was discovered sitting lonely on a shelf at Selfridge’s store in London on Christmas Eve, 1956 looking so lonely that Michael Bond bought him for his wife.

According to Bond’s books, though, he was found on London’s Paddington Station, after a journey from darkest Peru. Old duffle coats and marmalade sandwiches are favourites of the very loveable Paddington, who is not, says his creator, a cuddly bear, but a bear to stand in corners. That is why he wears Wellington boots. Pawnote: A small girl once gave her teddy bear the name “Gladly.” Her bear was cross-eyed. She gave the bear its name because they sang about it in church in a hymn with the " words: “Gladly my cross-eyed bear.”