Berwick-based Garry Paulin, a teacher at Eyemouth High School, became famous at the turn of the year when he released his book 'Voytek - The Soldier Bear' and it struck a chord not just with people in Northumberland and Berwickshire but all over the world.
The book was a big seller and Garry had to send out copies to places across the globe including America and Poland where Voytek came from. The popularity of the book led to Garry also doing a series of radio interviews for local, national and international media.
Voytek was spotted by the Polish army in the mountains of Iran during their World War Two campaign and soon became their official mascot. He became a firm favourite with the troops and more than pulled his weight - often helping to load and unload ammunition from the army trucks.
He travelled to British shores with the army and ended up at Winfield Camp. Word of Voytek soon spread and he became a popular figure for people on both sides of the Border and often visited Berwick with the troops.
After the war he was moved to Edinburgh Zoo where he attracted many visitors before his death in 1963.
Garry and the book will feature in a five minute 'One Show' segment on Voytek and he admitted that he was shocked when took the call about the programme.
"I got a phone call from someone at Mentorn Productions, based in Glasgow. They film a lot of things for the BBC and said they'd taken a call from 'The One Show' about Voytek and they were interested in doing something on him. To say I was surprised would definitely be an understatement- I couldn't believe it."
The wheels were set firmly into motion and a crew from Mentorn Productions filmed Garry in the high school's library and also filmed Aileen Orr at Sunwick Farm near Hutton and Augustine Karolewski at Winfield Camp. Aileen is heading a campaign to get a permanent memorial for Voytek in the area and Augustine has fond memories of Voyek from when he was young.
Garry has recently had another batch of 'Voytek - The Soldier Bear' published in anticipation of an increased demand following the programme.
To see the piece for yourself tune into The One Show on Tuesday, September 2 at 7pm.