'Bear'

This is my bear. I have no idea when I got him or who gave him to me or, really, anything about him - not even his name - except that he's been with me a very long time and has travelled the world with me.

He has a lovely face with a slightly lopsided smile on it, as if, despite the loss of one eye, he knows exactly what's going on and what I'm thinking.

Life hasn't been easy for 'Bear' and he bears the scars of heavy use. For anything with less fortitude and less loved, that gaping hole in his leg would have been terminal.

He's a very aristocratic bear. He was made by Chad Valley who were 'By Appointment - Toy Makers', though it doean't actually say who they were 'by appointment' to.

However, 'Bear' wasn't my first bear. This picture, taken in Leytonstone when we were on leave in 1946, shows me with another bear. At some point, this bear was lost and 'Bear' replaced him.

'Bear' could never have travelled to school with me in all those grim years I was in England - I'd have been laughed at by fellow pupils - so he must have waited in Mombasa for my return. Later he became one of the inhabitants of the little brown case.

He and Gill's Buster now live together in gentle retirement in a very comfy woven basket.