Mr Benn, The Wombles

And other cartoon characters inspired by London

I read this week about Mr Benn's home in Festing Road (which became Festive Road in the cartoon stories), in Putney, south London, being marked by residents in the street. An engraved paving slab will be laid outside the house where illustrator David McKee invented his famous costume-changing cartoon character.

Apparently, only 13 episodes of the much-loved Mr Benn were made but it felt like more and I can clearly remember his adventures dressing up as a cowboy, a clown and a caveman. For anyone who didn't grow up watching the bowler-hatted Mr Benn going on magical travels through the portal in the shop's changing room, you missed out.

I suspect the Festing Road paving stone may become the Beatles equivalent of the Abbey Road crossing for Mr Benn fans. Hearing about Mr Benn's concrete tribute got me thinking... what other cartoon characters have set up their home in London?

The mere mention of Wimbledon Common and I can't help but take a nostalgic trip to The Wombles of Wimbledon with Uncle Bulgaria and his young charges Orinoco, Tomsk, Bungo, and Wellington. Just last week I was wondering around Wimbledon Common and the cartoon's theme tune popped into my head. I fully expected to see a grey furry creature with a long brown nose "making good use of the things that they find, things that us everyday folks leave behind". The recycling message is particularly apt today but, seeing as they were created back in the seventies, The Wombles really were ahead of their time.

I suspect my nostalgia trip was sparked by a recent trip to the movies to see the truly superb Fantastic Mr Fox - the film which launched the London Film Festival last month. Filmed right here in London in 3 Mills Studios, Wes Anderson's brilliant take on Roald Dahl's 1970s children's classic uses the same stop-motion technique as the cartoons I grew up with and is all the more appealing for it. A bit of high tech Pixar animation can be all well and good - the charming chef-rat Remy in Ratatouille is a case in point - but sometimes you can't beat old school 1970s 'you can see the strings' cartoons to give you a rose-tinted reminder of your kindergarten days.

Being a big Wes Anderson fan - Royal Tenebaums, The Life Aquatic, Darjeeling Limited (a bit limited) and Rushmore are all in my DVD collection - I couldn't wait to see Fantastic Mr Fox and it lived up to expectations. It's as wonderfully eccentric as you'd expect from a Dahl-Anderson pairing. The issues the foxy film deals with are weighty - the responsibilities of growing up while retaining your original verve for life, family love, overcoming bullies and celebrating being a little bit "different". But it does so in a way that won't put the kids off. And, when all else has failed, the simple message is: you can always "dig!"

A run-through of London's most famous cartoon characters wouldn't be complete without a mention of Paddington Bear. The marmalade-loving bear from Peru gets his name from the London railway station where Mr and Mrs Brown first meet the bear with 'Please Look After This Bear' written on a sign around his neck. Paddington goes to live with the Browns in their home, at Number 32 Windsor Gardens, which - in the book - is a Georgian terrace in Notting Hill. The reality is a really rather grim street close to Royal Oak with 1960s developments on either side. But never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Turns out Paddington was inspired by a real bear - the creator Michael Bond, a former BBC cameraman who turned to writing, picked up a lonely looking teddy at Selfridges as a Christmas present for his wife who inspired his fictional creation. Bond and his wife christened the bear Paddington after the station close to where they lived. Today a small bronze sculpture of Paddington Bear still stands as a tribute to the bear, you'll find it at the foot of the escalators leading up to the food court in the station concourse.

London is clearly an inspirational place to be - whether you're a costume-changing Mr Benn or a lost bear - and there are some cartoon creations that will forever be linked with our capital.

Oxford Circus 'Turned Japenese'

This month London's Oxford Circus 'turned Japanese' as the horribly busy intersection between Regent Street and Oxford Street changed into an 'X', following the example of Shibuya in Tokyo. You can now stroll across the crossing in all directions, including diagonally, as all the traffic lights are timed to go red at the same time. The sense of claustrophobia has diminished too. Instead of being rammed up against the railings outside Nike Town, fighting against the tide of people trying to get into the Tube station, you can find your own space. It's a vast improvement but as one pedestrian pointed out: "I can't see why it cost £5million to create".

Happy 50th, Hampstead Theatre

Since starting out in 1959 in a humble scout hut, Hampstead Theatre has come a long way over the past 50 years. A lavish gala celebrity-attended bash was held this month to celebrate the theatre's half a century of pioneering productions staging the early works of Harold Pinter, Michael Frayn and, most famously, Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party. Original Artistic Director James Roose-Evans couldn't have envisaged the thriving theatre that continues his work today, staging performances in a magnificent, state-of-the-art theatre which opened in 2003. Almost £20,000 was raised at the 50th birthday party with former Tory MP and novelist Jeffrey Archer auctioning prizes including a first edition of Ian Fleming’s Octopussy, the Living Daylights signed by Roger Moore, and the chance to have a drink with Stephen Fry.

Camden Quinn's Is Best for a Pint

Husband and wife team Patrick and Margaret Quinn, who have run Quinn's in Kentish Town Road for 20 years, were given a lifetime achievement award at the annual ball for Camden bartenders this month. The event, organised by the Camden Inner London Licensees Association and known as the "Cilla Ball", saw landlords from the borough celebrate with a pint or two and a bit of a jig at the Irish Centre. What, you may well ask, is the secret to so many years of pint-pulling success? It's all down to "good service and good beer," according to Margaret.

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