Paddington Bear has returned in a new stage musical as a fun Christmas distraction from the drear and gloom elsewhere. Critics love it – “imaginatively staged, immaculately performed and utterly winning”; “funny, feel-good, family-friendly musical that looks set to run and run”. It brings ” the stowaway bear gorgeously to life”.
Paddington, star of 35 million books, published in 20 countries in over 40 languages, in movies and adaptations for television was the inspiration of author Michael Bond. He was touched by the stories of Jewish refugee children sent to England during the war with labels round their necks; and that combined with a lonely teddy bear in a shop window near Paddington Station which he took home for his wife’s Christmas turned into one of the most successful series of children’s books ever. Paddington Bear from “darkest Peru” was sent to the UK by his Aunt Lucy carrying a jar of marmalade.
Michael Bond was born 13 January 1926, a year which produced a good many notables, including Queen Elizabeth 11 and David Attenborough. He had a Capricorn Sun on one leg of a yod sextile Uranus in Pisces inconjunct Neptune which was exactly conjunct Ceres. Neptune on the apex of a yod can produce a dreamer and an escapist which in this case was turned to good use. And Ceres, the nurturing and nourishing archetype which rules mothers, family bonds and relationships as well as food, gives deep empathy.
Bond’s Neptune Ceres is also opposition Venus in Aquarius square a conscientious, hard-working Saturn in Scorpio – an enduring Fixed T square.
He was working as a Blue Peter (children’s tv) cameraman when the inspiration came to him. He had another inconjunct of Pluto to Mars. That Pluto was being triggered by tr Uranus conjunct its Solar Arc position when the first Paddington set foot on the page. And his Solar Arc North Node was opposing his Neptune and triggering his T square and Neptunian yod when the inspiration first came to him two or three years earlier. After publication he was able to become a full-time writer.
A heart-warming tale from a more innocent time in mainstream entertainment.
Here is Thoma Bond’s rectified chart. Click on floating magnifier to enlarge.
https://ibb.co/nWzfQvj
Paddington Bear was one of my favorite fictional characters as a child. I had a small umbrella with a print depicting him. “Paddington II” might also have been the second movie my daughter saw on screen, and she loved it. We then went to watch “Paddington” too multiple times, especially the window cleaning scene.
I think the resurfice of Paddington Bear very much reflects that of Moomin Characters, my other childhood favourites, created by Tove Jansson during WWII. They obviously never went out of style in Finland or Japan. However, the current UK and the US success are unprecedented. And as my now preteen daughter would say, they are “a vibe”. Moomins never go out to adventures without their sandwiches and raspberry juice either, and there was a very strong antiwar, humanitarian message in the books, too.
Tove Jansson must have an interesting chart. Enjoyed discovering the Moomins at a NYC exhibit and looking at TJs living set up and unbelievably long success.