“I gave them a licence.”
British legend Jeremy Clarkson, best known for Top Gear, was given the first-ever Paddington Bear alongside his sister, Joanna.
Although author Michael Bond created the story of Paddington in 1958, Clarkson’s mother Shirley created the first stuffed Paddington Bear.
She first made the prototype stuffed bear based on Paddington for both of her children as Christmas gifts, which people absolutely adored.
Because of the adoration, she expanded by creating more with her business called Gabrielle Designs; she was then granted a licence to sell them in 1972.
Although they did, in fact, first start illegally selling them in shops without Michael Bond’s authorisation, once Bond caught wind, he got his solicitors involved and took action against the Clarkson family.
Soon after, the Clarksons went down to London to meet the Author’s solicitors.
By a good stroke of luck, they met the Author in an elevator and came to an agreement.
Bond told The Sunday Times, “I got in the lift with Shirley and Eddie.”
“They were terribly nice and pretended it had all been a mistake – and we were friends by the time we got out of the lift. I gave them a licence.”
The Clarkson family went on to sell millions of bears and other Paddington Products worldwide before eventually selling the rights to world-famous toy store Hamleys.
Shirley Clarkson then told AutoTrader Magazine in 2010 that her son Jeremy would not have had the successful career he had without Paddington Bear’s help.
The money earned from the sales of the marmalade-loving bear helped Clarkson get into two private schools: Hill House School in Doncaster and Repton School in Derbyshire.
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