Spectator competition winners: Winnie-the-Pooh grows up

The latest challenge was to submit an extract from a novel that chronicles the adult life of a well-known fictional hero from children’s stories.

I enjoyed Jess McAree’s account of Paddington Bear’s Conrad-esque voyage — ‘evicted by Brexit, residence visa revoked’ — to the heart of darkness in deepest Peru. Hugh King, D.A. Prince and A.R. Duncan-Jones also shone with their portrayals of the later lives of the stars of the Just William and Noddy stories.

In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the play based on J.K. Rowling’s books, the boy wizard has grown up and become a father of three who works for the Ministry of Magic. David Shields, one of those who made the final cut this week, imagined him taking an altogether different path. He and his fellow winners take £30 each. The bonus fiver belongs to Bill Greenwell.

Bill Greenwell

Mr Speaker glared. A glare from Mr. Speaker’s eyes, which were of an incandescent character, was generally enough to quell all opposition.