"Bears is sixpence extra. Sticky Bears is ninepence."

[erastes]

That's a phrase that's stayed with me from the first time I ever read my first Paddington book.  He gets into a mishap with cream cakes at the station buffet, and that retort was made by the taxi-driver when the Browns took him home.

I think it's a work of utter genius. No-one ever really boggled that 1. There was a bear at Paddington station. 2. He could talk, (English, without an outrageous South American accent), wear clothes, have a bath (disastrously) and loved marmalade sandwiches.  A Hard Stare was also I took away from that first book. I owe a lot to a little bear from Darkest Peru.

Happy Birthday Paddington! 

And whilst I was looking for a graphic, I found this wonderful site.  *evil chuckle*  Corrupt the little children for they are deserving. (not work safe in spots)

Comments

[madrigalist.livejournal.com]

So.
Very.
Wrong.

I LOVE it...

[erastes.livejournal.com]

:)

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

Epic. I use the hard stare a lot in my writing. There just doesn't seem to be any equivalent.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

No, there really isn't. It really puts people at a disadvantage too, done right.

[angrboda]

Paddington is cute. Nearly as cute as Pooh.

Oh, and language question: Why is that not Bears are etc? Is it because it refers to the price or because the driver just spoke that way and not something I should worry about?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Cute? Never! I never saw him as cute. He's very devious in his way.

And yes, that was the way the cabbie spoke, he's a Londoner (not that they all talk like that!)

[angrboda]

He is, look at the picture. He's all cuddly! :p (Admittedly I'm mostly familiar with him through pictures)
Mind you, Pooh's not really a saint either. He does have tendencies towards selfishness and selfimportance, especially when in the company of Piglet. Come to think of it, they all have fairly surperior attitudes now and then. Some more often than others.

And thank you. I shan't try to learn something from it then. :p

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

*loves paddington*

I am now going to inform you that my birthday is the same date as Michael Bond's. This after already telling someone that my birthday is the same date as Stephen Hendry's. Obviously not the same year as either of them (or even 'evil of them' which is what I wrote first).

Your subject line made me terribly happy.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*beams* I'm so glad that someone else remembers the line.

And MUCH better Michael Bond than Hendreary.

[jean-roberta.livejournal.com]

I was introduced to Pooh at a tender age because my mother (with a Master's degree in English lit and 2 British grandmothers, a true Cockney and a Geordie from Newcastle) made a point of reading me bedtime stories - so I would grow up cultured, doncha know. I didn't discover Paddington until I went to England with my family at age 22, but still found him charming, especially after I was told that the place where we were living (village of Compton in Surrey) was Paddington Bear Country.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Pooh should be force fed on children. I scream when I hear of people who never read the books or had them read to them.

What's the link between Compton and Paddington? Is that where Michael Bond lived or something?

[jean-roberta.livejournal.com]

Not that I know of. I think the only link is that Surrey villages are picturesque and pastoral, and Paddington seems at home in that sort of terrain.

[tharain.livejournal.com]

You make me SO happy.

*sings*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

But you gotta get a gimmick
If you wanna get a hand!

Re: *sings*

[tharain.livejournal.com]

::sings back::

You can pull all the stops out
'Till they call the cops out,
Bump in a dump 'til you're dead,
But you gotta get a gimmick,
if you want to get ahead!

Once I was a schleppa
Now I'm Miss Muzeppa
With my revolution in dance!
Get yourself a gimmick
If you want to stan a chance!

Everything's a show tune cue!!

"Bears is sixpence extra. Sticky Bears is ninepence."

[zipcity.livejournal.com]

!! i remember that :D

that site is very wrong, and very funny.

Re: "Bears is sixpence extra. Sticky Bears is ninepence."

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad it's not just me.

:)

[aerama.livejournal.com]

Paddington!! *loves* And the marmalade...oh, it's been years.

And of course I had to look at the other link, and now even more remnants of my childhood have died a whimpering death.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Nice to know that I continue to kill off all traces of innocence!!

*evol*

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I like to write my characters giving other people a Look which is a direct rip-off from dear Michael Bond. I did try writing 'hard stare' once but it was misinterpreted as being something to do with the one-eyed trouser worm.

Those books - I particularly like the Pooh bear one because the Disneyfied version is very annoying. Earnest Shepherd's version is much nicer. Incidentally I have a Pooh story tape that belonged to my daughter where Pooh seems to have been given John Major's voice. It works remarkably well.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

I hate the Disney versions of Pooh. I cheered like mad when the rights ran out and they could sell the old fashioned versions of the stuffed toys again.

It's strange too to see how paddington has evolved, he was a much different bear in book one to the cute cuddly thing he is today.

[mongrelheart.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, i'd forgotten all about Paddington! Somebody actually sewed a stuffed Paddington for me when i was a kid.