Woodstock: Teddy bears on display at Oxfordshire Museum

Each teddy comes from a family in Oxfordshire, the council said

Much-loved teddy bears with their own unique stories have gone on public display.

The cuddly toys are part of a new exhibition at the council-owned Oxfordshire Museum, in Woodstock, which features 20 stuffed animals from families across the county.

The exhibition, called Archie and the Poet, focuses on Uffington poet John Betjeman and his teddy bear, Archibald Ormsby-Gore, who is now 114 years old.

It will run until 25 February.

Archie has an intriguing history of repairs and changes, which are explored in the exhibit

Together with Jumbo the elephant, now aged 92, Archie was adored by the Poet Laureate.

As a little boy, Betjeman was often very lonely and Archie was his constant companion.

Archie was used as Betjeman's alter ego and later became the model for Aloysius, who was owned by Lord Sebastian Flyte, in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

Archie and Jumbo were reportedly in Betjeman's arms when he died in 1984.

Betjeman wrote several volumes of poetry, becoming Poet Laureate in 1972

Neil Fawcett, Oxfordshire County Council's member for community, said he thought it would be a "lovely opportunity" for residents to tell the stories of their own teddy bears.

He said: "My own teddy bear is Australian, a gift from my grandparents when I was born, who were holidaying in Australia at the time.

"He's been my companion ever since."

One of the cherished bears in the exhibition was owned by Kayleigh Harper, the youngest child in the UK to receive a heart transplant at the time, aged seven months.

Betjeman's stuffed elephant Jumbo often went by the name Bill

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