Michael Bond-Paddington Bear!

It all began in 1956, Michael Bond was a camera man for the BBC, who began to write stories about a bear he had bought for his wife one Christmas that they had named Paddington.

Of Paddington himself Michael Bond says:
"The great advantage of having a bear as a central character is that he can combine the innocence of a child with the sophistication of an adult. Paddington is not the sort of bear that would ever go to the moon - he has his paws too firmly on the ground for that. He gets involved in everyday situations. He has a strong sense of right and wrong and doesn't take kindly to the red tape bureaucracy of the sillier rules and regulations with which we humans surround ourselves. As a bear he gets away with things. Paddington is humanised, but he couldn't possibly be 'human'. It just wouldn't work."
By 1958 Bonds Stories of Paddington bear was turned into a tv childrens programme created through the art of stop motion:

In 1965, after writing several Paddington titles Michael Bond retired from his job as a cameraman with the BBC, in order to write full time. The Paddington books have sold more than thirty-five million copies worldwide and have been translated into over forty languages.

Bond has also created other childrens Tv shows in the 1970's such as The Herbs, and featured the characters Dill the Dog, Sage the Owl and Parsley the Lion, the programme again was stop motion!