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Michael Bond

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Author

The Resume

    (January 13, 1926-June 27, 2017)
    Born in Newbury, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
    Birth name was Thomas Michael Bond
    Best known for creating the Paddington Bear series of children's books
    Also wrote the Olga da Polga series of children's books and the Monsieur Pamplemousse series of 'culinary mystery' stories
    Received the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to children's literature (1997)

Why he might be annoying:

    He would often fake illnesses to avoid school. (Largely because he attended a Catholic school and, as an Anglican, he felt like an outsider.)
    He served briefly in the RAF, but had to transfer to the army because of airsickness.
    He originally wrote that Paddington came from 'darkest Africa'; when his agent pointed out that bears are not native to Africa, he changed it to 'darkest Peru' (home of the spectacled bear).

Why he might not be annoying:

    During WWII, he survived a bombing raid in which the building where he was working collapsed, killing 41 people (1943).
    Before writing full-time, he worked as a BBC cameraman: 'I was paid to stand within a few feet of Yehudi Menuhin performing. I saw Rudolf Nureyev dancing. I couldn't believe I was being paid for that.'
    He said about the first Paddington Bear book, 'It wasn't written for any particular age group, which is probably the ideal way to write a children's book. Most children hate being written down to anyway.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 65 Votes: 75.38% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 13 Votes: 15.38% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying