Michael Bond based Paddington on a lone teddy bear he saw in a London shop on Christmas Eve 1956, looking forlorn, and bought as a present for his wife. The bear's refugee status came from Bond's memories of London children evacuated to the countryside during the Second World War, each with a luggage label round their neck and a small case of possessions. Paddington's arrival with a label reading please look after this bear echoes that image. Bond lived near Paddington station and found the name fitting, and he wrote the first book in about ten days. A Bear Called Paddington was published on 13 October 1958, and the bear has since become one of Britain's best-known children's characters.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.