 He also meets a friend, and companion in Toby's later adventures, Peter or Pete the Penguin, who is actually an impulsive black and white penguin about half the size of Toby, and, unlike Toby, wears no clothing.Sheila Hodgetts is reported (by Hockley) as recalling that she had grown up loving Mary Tourtel's "Daily Express" newspaper comic strip character, Rupert Bear.To recognise the parallels between Toby Twirl and Rupert Bear, it is useful to consider this in some detail.