The movie Paddington has sparked a resurgence of interest in the bear from darkest Peru, with exhibitions, statues and special events springing up around London.
Paddington Bear's journey to the silver screen has been a long one, but Michael Bond's much-loved children's book character has been popular since he first appeared in 1958.
The impeccably polite stowaway turned up at London Paddington railway terminal with a battered suitcase containing a nearly-finished jar of marmalade, and a label on his blue duffel coat reading: "Please look after this bear. Thank you."
The film, featuring Nicole Kidman as a taxidermist, premieres in Britain on November 28, but the Paddington Bear fest is already well under way.
The House of Illustration gallery in London got the ball rolling on October 18 with its Paddington: Illustrated and Animated exhibition, which shows how artists through the decades have interpreted the diminutive bear.
"Paddington is one of the most enduring and recognisable characters in British children's literature," says Olivia Ahmad, the exhibition's curator.
However, "the visual interpretations of Paddington have changed dramatically over the years", she says.
The inspiration for the character came on Christmas Eve 1956 when Bond, a writer and BBC cameraman, saw a lonely looking teddy bear in a shop near his home close to Paddington station, and bought it for his wife.
A second exhibition, due to open at the Museum of London on November 14, traces Paddington's history over the decades through objects drawn from private collections.
It includes the first edition of the first book, which is signed by Bond and belongs to his daughter Karen Jankel, original drawings and stuffed toys, and props from the Paddington film.
It also contains one of 50 statues of the bear, which will be dotted out around London – each with a different celebrity-designed paint job.
The one at the museum was designed by actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
The statues will start to appear around the city in places such as Heathrow Airport and Trafalgar Square, with bear-hunters able to follow a Paddington Trail map around London landmarks.
They have been customised by actresses Kidman and Emma Watson, football icon David Beckham, London mayor Boris Johnson, the England rugby union team and Chelsea Football Club.
Bond has also designed his own statue of the bear.
At 88, the author is bringing out a new story, Love from Paddington, on December 23.
