A North East academic has claimed beloved children's character Paddington Bear came to the country as an illegal immigrant.

Professor Angela Smith, from the University of Sunderland's Faculty of Education, Society, and Creative Industries, has explored Paddington's origins in 1958 Britain, a period marked by prevalent racism and burgeoning multiculturalism.

In her research paper, "Paddington Bear: A Case Study of Immigration and Otherness," Professor Smith not only identifies Paddington as an illegal immigrant but also as an early advocate of racial equality.

Professor Smith said: "Michael Bond’s Paddington books deal with immigration at a very subtle level.

"Today those kinds of books are aimed at older children who, it is assumed, are better able to cope with the complex political and psychological issues.

"But that first book, A Bear Called Paddington, published in 1958, presents issues of anti-racism in a deceptively simple story."

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She said the setting of Michael Bond’s books and Paddington's background were carefully selected.

(Image: University of Sunderland) The luggage label "Please look after this bear. Thank you." is a reference to Michael Bond’s experiences of seeing evacuees leaving London during the Second World War.

However, this particular evacuee is arriving in London during a crucial time in the country’s history.

Like many immigrants, Paddington arrives in Britain sans name or identity, admits to having stowed away on a boat, and is known to be an illegal immigrant by Mr and Mrs Brown, who 'rescue' him at the station.

They give him his British name, aware of his illegal immigrant status.

Professor Smith said: "London in the 1950s was becoming rapidly more multicultural than ever before.

"The first of many large groups of West Indians called ‘Windrush’ immigrants, arrived in the late 1940s, and that cultural mix in London was not always a comfortable one.

"In the summer of 1958, just months before the first Paddington book was published, some of the worst race riots in Britain ignited particularly the Notting Hill Riots.

"It’s no coincidence that the first Paddington stories are specifically set in Notting Hill."