Jeremy Clarkson’s mum always believed her son would not have had the TV career he did without Paddington Bear after the family played a big part in creating the ironic character
TV star Jeremy Clarkson owes his career to Paddington Bear after his parents made mega money by designing the much-loved stuffed toy.
Shirley and Eddie Clarkson’s small design company led them to make the first-ever prototype of the character in 1972, which they gifted to their son Jeremy and daughter Joana for Christmas. Friends were quick to admire the toys so they started selling them in local shops in the 70s and the Clarkson couple modified Paddington’s design to include his now-famous yellow wellington boots.
However, issues soon came to the fore when the author of the Paddington series, Michael Bond, got wind of the couple selling the stuffed toy without copyright rights. The author asked his legal team to take action against the Clarksons, but one meeting between the Bond and the couple changed the trajectory of Paddington Bear forever.
As legal actions boiled to a head, Eddie and Shirley travelled to London to meet with the authors’ solicitors and happened to meet Bond in a lift. The author of the hit franchise quickly became pals with the couple and tensions around copyright soon melted away. “I got in the lift with Shirley and Eddie,” Bond told The Sunday Times. “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.”
That moment of kindness in the lift changed the Clarksons’ lives, as the family went on to sell millions of bears and Paddington-themed products across the globe. After a huge success, the Clarkson couple eventually sold the stuffed bear rights to toy stalwart Hamleys.
Shirley told AutoTrader in 2010 that he would not have had the TV career he did without Paddington Bear. The millionaire broadcaster also attended two private schools thanks to his parent’s entrepreneurial success – Hill House School in Doncaster and Repton School in Derbyshire.
The Paddington Bear website says: ‘The very first Paddington bear soft toy was designed in the UK by a lady called Shirley Clarkson. She made it as a Christmas present for her children, Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson (who was to go on to become a world famous motoring journalist).
“So many people admired Shirley’s Paddington that she started to make some more until her company, Gabrielle Designs and was granted an official licence to sell them in the UK in 1972.”
When Paddington author passed away in 2017, the TV presenter wrote an emotional statement on Twitter to honour his family’s relationship with him. He wrote: “Very sad to hear Michael Bond has died. I knew him for 45 years and rarely met anyone kinder or more gentle.”
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