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Paddington Bear has been named the nation's most loved animated character.
The marmalade-loving, duffle-coat wearing, black-hatted bear from Darkest Peru came top in a UK-wide vote, beating off competition from Wallace & Gromit, Mr Benn and Bagpuss.
Paddington Bear, who made his TV debut on BBC1 in 1975, was named the winner at the annual British Animation Awards.
The event also saw wins for chart act Gorillaz, Harry Potter and The Gruffalo's Child.
Paddington, named after the London station at which he was found, was created by Michael Bond and made his literary debut in 1958.
His first book, A Bear Called Paddington, told how he was packed off by his Aunt Lucy who went into a retirement home in Lima and made his way to Britain where he was adopted by the Brown family.
The popular children's toy Paddington wore yellow wellies to help it stand (created by the parents of Jeremy Clarkson). The Top Gear host and his sister Joanna were the first owners of the cuddly toys, which wore a red rain hat, instead of the oversized black hat from the BBC show.
The BBC series was voiced by Michael Hordern and featured a stop-motion puppet while other characters were paper cut-outs.
Paddington was the runaway winner following the online public vote which took place over a number of weeks.
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 took the prize for best TV or film graphics, while Gorillaz took the public choice prize for best music video for the single Stylo.
Cartoon Network show The Amazing World Of Gumball was a double winner, taking the best children's series prize and triumphing in a public vote for best kids' show.
The Gruffalo's Child, voiced by James Corden, jointly won the best long-form animation prize, together with Polish film Maska.
The ninth annual British Animation Awards were staged at the BFI Southbank last night.
Awards director Jayne Pilling said: "At a time when the UK animation industry faces an uncertain future we have been overwhelmed by the strength and breadth of talent featured in this year's awards and would like to warmly congratulate all our winners."
Paddington Bear began to trend on Twitter, as users of the social media site relived their childhood memories about the lovable bear. The hashtag #animatedheroes was one of the most popular topics, with tweeters offering their own suggestions for which character should win.
Do you think Paddington Bear should have won? Who is your favourite animated character? Leave your nominations in the comments below.
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PA/Huffington Post UK | Posted: 16/03/2012 09:32 Updated: 16/03/2012 12:17