Paddington
Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, London. Its name was first recorded as 'Padington' in the year 1056. Three important features in the Paddington district include; London Paddington station, designed by the British Engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1847; St Mary's Hospital and Paddington Green police station ( considered the most important high-security police station in the United Kingdom).
Early on the morning of October 10, 1992, The IRA detonated explosives hidden within a telephone box outside the police station. This was intended to act as a demonstration to the British security services.
Associated people
Paddington has had several famous sons, daughters and associated residents;
- Robert Browning; The British Poet, lived at Beauchamp Lodge on the junction of two canals. The Paddington precinct known as Little Venice was so named by the great Victorian poet himself.
- C.R. Alder Wright; The British Chemist who, in 1874, first discovered Heroin (Diacetylmorphine) at St Mary's Hospital on Praed Street in Paddington.
- Dr. Edward Wilson; The British Polar Explorer, Physician, Naturalist and Ornithologist who, along with Captain Robert Scott, Captain Lawrence Oates, Lieutenant Birdie Bowers and Petty Officer Edgar Evans died in 1912, in Antarctica during their ill-fated British Antarctic expedition. Dr. Wilson both lived and worked in Paddington during his lifetime, in recognition of which the Senior Street primary school was renamed the Edward Wilson School in 1952.
- Sir Alexander Fleming; The Nobel Prize winning British (Scottish) scientist who first isolated penicillin (Penicillium Chrysogenum) in 1928, in his laboratory at St Mary's Hospital on Praed Street in Paddington.
- Sir Alec Guinness; The British Academy Award, Tony Award and BAFTA Award winning Actor. Guinness was born in Paddington on 2 April, 1914 and during his lifetime starred in such films as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, The Ladykillers, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Cromwell, Scrooge and A Passage to India.
- Emma Thompson; The British Emmy Award, BAFTA Award and Academy Award winning Actress, Comedian and Screenwriter. Thompson was born in Paddington on 15 April, 1959 and has starred in such films as Henry V, Howards End, The Remains of the Day, In the Name of the Father, Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
- 'Seal; The British Grammy award winning soul singer, songwriter and musician. Seal's discoghraphy includes a trio of self-titles albums; Seal, Seal and Seal all of which met with both critical and commerical success.
- Kiefer Sutherland; The Canadian Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winning film and Television Actor. Sutherland was born in Paddington on December 21, 1966 and has starred in such films as Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, Young Guns, A Few Good Men and Phone Booth aswell as the critically and commercially successfull series 24.
- Zara Phillips MBE; The British European Eventing and World Eventing Gold medal winning Equestrienne. Zara Phillips was born in Paddington on 15 May, 1981 and is currently 11th in the British Order of Succession and Patron of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
References in fiction
- Possibly the most famous fictional reference to Paddington comes from Michael Bond's Paddington Bear books. The title character is named after the station.
- In the BBC mini-series of John le Carré's Smiley's People, the General lives off Westbourne Terrace, and Smiley later visits, with scenes also filmed around Paddington Station and Craven Terrace.
- In the Railway Series books by Rev. W. Awdry, the character Duck the Great Western Engine is said to have once lived here.
- In the Sherlock Holmes short story The Stockbroker's Clerk, Dr. Watson mentioned that he purchased a practice in the Paddington district.
Paddington station
Paddington has a main-line railway station, Paddington station, with commuter service to the west of London (e.g. Slough, Maidenhead, Reading, Swindon) and main-line service to Oxford, Bristol, Bath, Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall and South Wales (including Cardiff and Swansea). There is also the Heathrow Express service to Heathrow Airport.
The station has a statue of Paddington Bear, a character in children's fiction who was discovered at this station and, hence, named after it.
Education
- For education in Paddington see the main City of Westminster article.
