Mr Whoppit was the teddy bear mascot of Donald Campbell, the land and water speed record holder.
[4][5][6] Whoppit was noted in 2003 by reporter Frank Bennett as being part of the "threesome" arriving for the 1964 record run – the others being Campbell himself, and his wife.
[7] Whoppit was with Campbell during his serious crash during a land-speed record attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1960, driving the Proteus Bluebird.
[8] Campbell died as a result of a crash while driving his jet hydroplane Bluebird K7 in a record attempt on Coniston in 1967.
[10] In 1956, Merrythought manufactured a 9-inch tall Woppit bear wearing a red felt jacket[11] and one of these was given to Donald by his close friend and manager Peter Barker.
In the late 1990s, Merrythought re-issued a limited production of 5,000 replicas of Mr Whoppit, with the original red jacket now sporting the Bluebird motif.
[16][17][18][19] The decision to auction off Mr Whoppit was a cause of acrimony between Gina Campbell and Donald's widow Tonia Bern-Campbell, which re-surfaced again during the recovery of Bluebird in 2001.