After a good vacation and a restful sea voyage, a person likes to get back to his work. Paddington returns from a visit to Peru ready for anything.

Although he really enjoyed the last chapter with the Russian ballet dancer, I think my son's interest in this series is flagging. This works for me as I'm ready for a break anyway. We've read so much Paddington lately, I'm starting to dislike marmalade, and I've never even had it before. ( )

Paddington has a knack for "smelling out things", and his sharp nose, supported by marmalade sandwiches, leads him into many adventures. Whether it's lending a paw to a famous Russian ballet dancer, or serving baked elastic instead of "Baked Alaska" this bear is as trouble-prone and funny as ever.

Author of over one hundred books, many of them for children, Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire, in 1926, but he grew up in Reading. On leaving school at the age of fourteen, he spent a year in a lawyers office before joining the BBC as an engineer. During the war he served with both the RAF and the army, and it was in 1947, while stationed in Cairo, that he wrote his first short story. Its acceptance by London Opinion sowed the seeds of a future career, but before becoming a full-time writer he was to spend many happy and fruitful years as a BBC television cameraman

One snowy Christmas Eve he was taking refuge in Selfridges when he came across a small toy bear, literally left on the shelf. Bought as a stocking filler for his first wife, Brenda, it was to act as the inspiration for A Bear Called Paddington, first published in 1958.

In 1997 Michael Bond was awarded the OBE for his services to children's literature.