Someone in the dark: Paddington station

2013-09-22

Paddington station

PaddingtonBear生於1958年，和MJ同年

MJ在2002年在Paddington車站被歌迷擠迫跌倒，遇到非常危險的情況

脱險後，他的説話是：I love these people

Michael Jackson mobbed by fans

June 14, 2002 cnn.com

Michael Jackson was sent flying by excited fans fighting to touch the pop legend at a London railway station on Friday.

The American superstar, jostled and pushed in the melee, was lucky to escape injury as mass hysteria gripped his die-hard admirers.

"It was just horrifying ... he was knocked to the ground," said spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller who had invited the King of Pop on a fund-raising charity trip to the southwest English city of Exeter

"I honestly thought we wouldn't make it and we would end up in hospital," Geller told Reuters after battling to get aboard the 'Jackson Express.'

"For a moment I thought he would faint. But then he suddenly looked at me and said 'I love these people' and I said 'Are you okay?' He said 'I am okay' and kept waving to his fans," Geller added.

Geller, who is hoping to raise money for a children's charity and his third division English soccer club Exeter , said he had never before experienced anything like the screaming mob.

"I have been around for 35 years. I have met Elvis Presley, Elton John, John Lennon, all the Beatles. I have never ever seen anything like that and I hope I never will see it again. Michael was crushed," Geller said.

Bedlam erupted as Jackson and his entourage arrived at London 's Paddington station to board the train to Exeter as a screaming mob of fans from all corners of the globe tried to get close to their idol.

Each excitably clutching a $150 "ticket to ride," 100 die-hard Jackson fans clambered aboard the train for "country way day" with the star.

The scene at the station was pure chaos, recalling Beatlemania back in the 1960s. Scuffles erupted and extra police were called as the fans surged forward on the platform.

The chaotic scenes was in stark contrast to a tour the Jackson team took through the echoing halls of the Houses of Parliament in central London .

The King of Pop, accompanied by Geller and U.S. illusionist David Blaine, declared the gothic palace "a miracle" and gazed in awe at Queen Elizabeth's golden throne.

"I want that," the pop legend told his entourage as he admired the throne where Britain 's monarch sits once a year formally to open parliament in the ornate House of Lords.

"Can you get it up to the ranch?" one of his assistants asked three burly bodyguards.

The pop star, on a brief trip to Britain after asking to see the "mother of parliaments," was puzzled when told not to sit on the green leather benches in the House of Commons where British MPs often gather for marathon debates.

The singer also stopped to marvel at the towering Westminster clock known as Big Ben. Blaine, who recently leapt off an 80-foot (24-metre) pillar he had been balancing on for 34 hours in New York , said he would like to climb up it.

Jackson's unannounced visit took many tourists by surprise. "It's totally amazing," Emilie Williams, 20, from Cedar Falls , Iowa , told Reuters. She added that seeing Jackson had eclipsed any of the marvels in the historic parliament.

The star also met Britain 's top legal official, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, and attended a birthday party for the country's first black Cabinet minister, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng, who was promoted last month.

Before his trip to Exeter City 's ground, asked if he liked football, the American superstar replied: "I know nothing about it."

2010-09-20 頭條日報

作者: 陳可兒

PaddingtonBear，樣子天真，品性馴良，在香港擁有不少「粉絲」，足以代表英國與東瀛的Hello　Kitty抗衡。我對PaddingtonBear懷有深情意，因我與牠一樣，曾在Paddington旅居，我在此地臨別依依，就讓我在此緬懷一番。

PaddingtonBear是作家MichaelBond筆下的角色，牠由秘魯移民英國，隨身帶行李，待人有禮。話說Bond在Paddington一家店見到小熊公仔，觸動創作靈感。故事之始，有一家人在Paddington火車站遇見一隻小熊，牠坐在一個寫上「Pleaselookafterthisbear」字句的行李上。在現實中，PaddingtonBear影子在火車站隨處可見，站內放置一尊小熊銅像。

除了名聞遐邇的小熊之外，這個位於倫敦西北面小區，有一段耐人尋味的歷史。Paddington是倫敦其中一個最老的火車站，建於十九世中，由英國顯赫工程師Brunel設計。火車站的支撐架形狀，靈感來自植物。