The last thing that springs to mind when thinking about Paddington Bear is Jeremy Clarkson, but the beloved fictional bear has a surprising connection with the former Top Gear presenter. It turns out that Clarkson owes a lot to the adorable children's character, as his family's financial success boils down to the charming little bear.
Paddington Bear would look rather different if it wasn't for the broadcaster's parents, as their small business led them to make the first-ever prototype of the character in toy form. Doncaster-based Shirley and Eddie Clarkson ran a small design business and made a prototype for the first Paddington stuffed bear in 1972, which they gifted to their son Jeremy and daughter Joana for Christmas.
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After realising that the beloved stuffed bear couldn't stand up without the assistance of footwear, the Clarkson couple modified Paddington's design to include his now-famous yellow wellington boots.
The bear was such a hit that Clarkson's parents started selling them in local shops. However, issues soon came to the fore when the author of the Paddington series, Michael Bond, caught 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.
It is unclear whether Jeremy Clarkson profits from Paddington Bear royalties, but his mum has previously insisted that without their plush bear success, her son's life would have looked very different.
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.
Clarkson's Grade II-listed family home went on the market in 2016 for a whopping 1.6 million and boasted a cinema room and orangery.
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".
Michael Bond's Paddington has garnered even more success in recent years, thanks to the emotional sketch that the late Queen did with the fictional character to mark her Jubilee celebrations in June.
Now synonymous with the late monarch, grieving fans have been leaving swathes of marmalade sandwiches at landmark royal sites to pay their respects.
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