Selfridges inspired Michael Bond’s purchase of the toy bear that led to Paddington Bear.
Bond bought a small toy bear at Selfridges in London shortly before Christmas in 1956. He gave the toy to his wife, and the purchase helped spark the idea for the character who would become Paddington. Bond later developed the bear’s background, personality and journey to London.
The toy was not initially a complete version of the familiar literary character. The author supplied the bear with a name, a Peruvian origin and a story involving arrival at Paddington Station. Those elements became the foundation for A Bear Called Paddington, published in 1958.
This origin story is sometimes simplified into the claim that Bond found Paddington exactly as he appears in the books. In reality, the department-store toy was the starting point; the fictional bear’s detailed identity was created afterward through Bond’s writing.