Paddington: A soldier and a bear

Paddington Station’s soldier statue on Platform 1. Sculpture by Charles Sargeant Jagger MC. (P. Ferguson image, August 2018).

Paddington Station’s soldier statue on Platform 1. Sculpture by Charles Sargeant Jagger MC.
(P. Ferguson image, August 2018).

Thread Ten

From London Victoria we walk to Paddington Station, to visit a well known bear and to revisit with a soldier statue. The latter created by Charles Sargeant Jagger MC as the Great Western Railway War Memorial. Jagger was an experienced Great War officer with the Worcestershire Regiment and was wounded on three occasions and awarded the Military Cross.

The soldier statue stands on Platform 1 alongside a wall within Paddington Station, with a letter in his hands. He is reading. This statue was the subject of a recent and most successful letter campaign with 21,439 letters written about and inspired by this work in bronze. The soldier continues to stand, he continues to read. Please look after this soldier.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) War Memorial commemorates 3,312 men and women of the GWR who lost their lives in two world wars. (P. Ferguson image, August 2018)

The Great Western Railway (GWR) War Memorial commemorates 3,312 men and women of the GWR who lost their lives in two world wars.
(P. Ferguson image, August 2018)

Near to the soldier is a bench and a statue of Paddington Bear, a character created by Michael Bond and inspired by World War Two child evacuees. Bond himself survived an air raid in February 1943 when the building he was in collapsed killing 41 and injuring many others. Bond soon applied to the Royal Air Force, aged 17, but subsequently served with the Middlesex Regiment. Paddington’s famous tag reads, Please Look After This Bear.

Statue of Paddington Bear, please look after this bear (and this soldier). Both statues are located on Platform 1, Paddington Station, London. (P. Ferguson image, August 2018).

Statue of Paddington Bear, please look after this bear (and this soldier). Both statues are located on Platform 1, Paddington Station, London.
(P. Ferguson image, August 2018).

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About The Author

pferguson
Paul has worked with the Paradigm Motion Picture Company since 2009 as producer, historian and research specialist. Paul first met Casey and Ian WIlliams of Paradigm in April 2007 at Ieper (Ypres), Belgium when ceremonies were being held for the re-dedication of the Vimy Memorial, France. Paul's sensitivity to film was developed at an early age seeing his first films at RCAF Zweibrucken, Germany and Sardinia. Paul returned to Canada in 1967 and was captivated by David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". Over time Paul became increasingly interested in storytelling, content development, character, direction, cinematography, narration and soundtracks. At the University of Victoria, Paul studied and compared Japanese and Australian film and became interested in Australian film maker Peter Weir and his film "Gallipoli" (1981). Paul was inspired when he learned Weir visited the beaches, ridges and ravines of the peninsula. "Gallipoli", the film, led Paul on many journeys to sites of conflict in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Malta, Hawaii, Gallipoli, North Macedonia and Salonika. When Paul first watched documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, "The Civil War", Paul understood how his own experience and insight could be effective and perhaps influential in film-making. Combining his knowledge of Museums and Archives, exhibitions and idea strategies with his film interests was a natural progression. Paul thinks like a film-maker. His passion for history and storytelling brings to Paradigm an eye (and ear) to the keen and sensitive interests of; content development, the understanding of successful and relational use of collections, imagery and voice. Like Paul's favorite actor, Peter O'Toole, Paul believes in the adage “To deepen not broaden.” While on this path Paul always remembers his grandmother whose father did not return from the Great War and how his loss shaped her life and how her experience continues to guide him.

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