Teddy bears are everyone’s favourite toy – a part of childhood we often hang on to even as adults. Teddy Bear Story – 100 years of the Teddy Bear, an exhibition at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, celebrates our undiminished affection for teddy bears. It is the most comprehensive exhibition that is being staged to commemorate the centenary of the creation of the teddy bear and will include many historic bears from the Museum's own collection.

One hundred years ago, German toy manufacturers Steiff made their first jointed bear. Teddy Bear Story traces the irrepressible spread of the teddy bear since then and will feature around 400 teddy bears from the early 20th century until the present day.

The exhibition will feature some of the oldest surviving historic teddy bears as well as "celebrity" bears including Rupert, Paddington, Winnie the Pooh, Sooty and Aloysius from Brideshead Revisited.

Guest bears will make special appearances throughout the run of the exhibition. The original animatronics bear from the film AI will join the main exhibition as will Andy Pandy's Teddy. The first guest bear will be Alfonzo, a red mohair bear given to the young Princess Xenia of Russia by her father, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich. The bear left Russia with the princess to summer at Buckingham Palace and was destined never to return. While they were away, the Russian Revolution began!

The exhibition will look at the whole world of teddy bears from the original E H Shepard drawings of Winnie the Pooh to 21st century bears such as the Philippe Starck teddy bear. There will be bears from all the major bear manufacturers.

Children will be encouraged to draw, follow trails and get involved with the exhibition as they are led through a comprehensive history of teddy bears, seeing how bears are made, how they take many different forms and how they are interpreted around the world - from Australian koalas to Japanese mechanical bears.

2003 also marks the century since US President Theodore T Roosevelt's nickname 'Teddy' became linked to the toys. Roosevelt had refused to shoot a bear that had been cornered for him on a hunting trip and Clifford Berryman captured the moment in a cartoon published by the Washington Post. It is believed that the name 'Teddy' was quickly adopted by a New York store owner who labelled a plush bear in his window display 'Teddy's Bear'. Within a few years the teddy craze had taken hold in America and soon reached the UK.

Displays will show how bears are made and will highlight the characteristics given to teddies by individual manufacturers. There will be a section on teddy bear stories in books, cartoons, films, TV and music, showing how teddy bears from eighty year old Rupert to Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House have become popular children's characters. A further section will look at how bears have been involved in good works like Paddington, the mascot for Action Research, and BBC Children in Need's Pudsey Bear.

Numerous events are planned to coincide with the exhibition that will help bring to life the world of the teddy bear for all ages, including special events for arctophiles (teddy bear collectors).

The Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green in London is a branch of the V&A and holds an important collection of teddy bears and bear-related material as part of one of the largest and oldest collections of toys and childhood artefacts in the world. The collection, which dates from the sixteenth century to the present day, comprises dolls, dolls' houses, toy soldiers, train sets, model cars, puppets, rocking horses, board games and jigsaw puzzles.

Teddy Bear Story will be exhibited in the Museum of Childhood's new exhibition space on the first floor, part of a major redevelopment that is bringing to life the fantastic collection and making the museum more accessible and welcoming.

Quick Facts

Exhibition: Teddy Bear Story

Venue: The Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood

Dates: 29th March - 31st December 2003

Admission: Free

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