Hello!

My name is Baxterbear, and I have quite a phenomenal story to tell.

The first thing you should know is that I’ve lived for more years than I’ve had birthdays. Impossible? No, only unusual, as I was born on 29th February 1928. So, if you know about leap years, in 2012 I shall be either 21 or 84 years old! I think that makes me ageless.

For many years I lived in Scotland, just off Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile, right beside Edinburgh Castle Esplanade.

In fact, I have been a truly fortunate fellow to have lived in many places across the globe. Places like Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where I was a tea-tasting bear until the outbreak of World War Two.

It’s during the time of World War Two that I begin my story.

I was co-piloting a reconnaissance plane with my good friend RAF Pilot Baxter. We would fly missions over the Burmese jungle, flying only 500 feet above the treetops to take photographs for the British Army. A reconnaissance plane was a special plane that carried no guns. On one of these missions we were shot down from the skies, crash-landing in the thick jungle below.

As I came to, I realised that we were both hanging from our parachutes high in the jungle canopy. From the pain in my shoulder I knew that I had been injured. Hanging from the tree tops, I looked across at Pilot Baxter. He was drifting in and out of consciousness, and I hoped against hope that he would be okay. It was then that I decided that, if we survived, I would spend the rest of my life helping people to stay positive. This was when my nine point philosophy on life was born.

Amazingly, on the fifth day we were rescued by an Army Gurkha unit. After trekking four days through the jungle, we finally made it to a military convoy where an ambulance waited, only for the ambulance to get stuck in the mud! Luckily, help was at hand from two elephants that pushed us on our way, and at last we were taken for treatment to an Army field hospital in Imphal, India. Here Pilot Baxter slowly recovered from his life-threatening injuries.

To this day I still carry reminders of my own injuries, a tartan-patched shoulder and a torn ear.

After recuperating, I went to live in Kenya, a country in Africa, where I went from being a tea-tasting bear to a coffee-tasting bear.

I love flying and have travelled all over the world visiting wonderful places. During my travels I’ve found time to write about my adventures. Perhaps one day I shall even have a monument in my name, like my favourite writer, Sir Walter Scott, who has the Scott Monument in Edinburgh named after him.

My mission is to help people whenever and wherever by trying to stay positive. I don't sit on a shelf. I am right here in the real world with you and I want to make it a better place.

I want to make a difference.

(Baxterbear, one word, is a registered trademark.)