Mr Men and Little Miss books have sold more than 250 million copies and counting. And it was a question from Adam, son of creator Roger Hargreaves, which sparked the lot
It all started 55 years ago when an eight-year-old boy asked his dad: “What does a tickle look like?” A few deft moves with a magic marker later and Mr. Tickle was born – the first of the Mr. Men books which, joined in 1981 by the Little Miss series, has now expanded to a library of at least 90 characters. With more than 250 million combined book sales, they have become the fourth bestselling children’s book series of all time and have been translated into 15 different languages.
There is an animated series streaming on YouTube, a second series is currently in production for TV, and the studio behind the Paddington franchise are working on a Mr. Men Little Miss cinema film. Yet, Roger Hargreaves, who created the Mr. Men in 1971, died suddenly from a stroke in 1988, aged just 53, without seeing the astonishing longevity and global success his colourful blob creatures achieved.
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His son Adam Hargreaves, 62, says: “He’d have been incredibly chuffed. I mean really excited, to have Mr Men up on the big screen in the cinema. He would have been very, very happy to have seen that and it’s a terrible shame that he can’t.” It was Adam whose question about a tickle inspired his dad’s wonderful characters.
A 25-year-old working in farming when his dad died, he also took on his mantle and ran the family firm. In 2003, he even turned his hand to illustrating, saying: “I created three Mr Men and three Little Miss.” According to Adam, his dad’s main aim, in creating these wonderful characters, was to find a way of wriggling out of his daily commute from their home in Surrey to his job in advertising in London.
He says: “When I was young he was working in London and commuting, so I didn’t see him in the week at all. I was in bed by the time he got home. I think that was a lot of what drove his ambition – to create something for himself. He was looking to not have to commute to London every day.”
The eldest of four children, Adam enjoyed a happy childhood with his siblings, Giles and twins Sophie and Amelia, dad Roger and mum Christine. He says: “I think my dad’s main thought and ambition was just to make young children giggle. He was always having ideas, creative ideas, and he was ambitious creatively.” Adam says Roger longed to be a strip cartoonist and that Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts, was his hero. But his magic moment came one breakfast time in 1971, when Adam asked him about the tickle – and he picked up a pen and began drawing.
Adam says: “I think he suddenly realised that you could personify human traits – certain emotions, characteristics and turn them into a character. My dad was someone who worked largely on his own. He wasn’t a great one for showing the family what he was doing as he created it. It was more a point of we’d see it after it was finished. He always used magic markers to colour in the pictures, so there was always that chemical smell that the pens gave off.”
As Roger sketched away, a bright orange blob emerged, with a long body, stretchy arms and a blue bowler hat… it was Mr. Tickle. And then came the stories. Adam continues: “They were short, quite simple stories and my dad designed them quite specifically as short stories, because I think he was fed up with reading the likes of Beatrix Potter and Thomas the Tank, as they’re quite long.” Armed with a mock-up of his Mr. Tickle book, drawn on card – because his pens bled through ordinary paper – and taped together with gaffer tape on the spine, Roger took it to publisher after publisher, to no avail.
That was until he had lunch with an old friend, Jack Thurman, a printer who had started a publishing company, who was very happy to give the books a whirl. And in August 1971 the first Mr. Men books – 6 titles – came out. Mr Tickle, Mr. Greedy, Mr. Happy, Mr. Nosy, Mr. Sneeze and Mr. Bump.
With stories like Mr Tickle – ‘Tickles are small and round and they have arms that stretch and stretch and stretch. Extraordinarily long arms,’ and Mr. Bump – ‘If there was something for Mr Bump to bump into he would bump into it all right’ – children were enchanted.
Drawing additional characters in his lunchbreak, Roger’s Mr. Men family grew and grew. Adam says: “What really comes out of the Mr Men books is my dad’s imagination, in full flow. I’ve got a plaque on the wall that was given to my dad and that was to commemorate a million books sold. It was a very fast success,”
In 1974 Mr. Men burst on to our TV screens, narrated by Dad’s Army actor Arthur Lowe, with their own catchy theme tune. Adam continues: “It was a genius bit of music making, It’s so iconic and so obviously the Mr Men. Now everyone recognises it.” Then came a wealth of merchandising – from toys to jigsaws and clothing. “There were Mr Men mugs in the cupboard and all that sort of thing. He was terribly proud of all of that,” says Adam. Able to quit his advertising job, Roger’s creative gloves were off. By the late 1970s there were Mr. Men songs, composed by Joe Campbell, and in 1981 came the Little Miss characters.
When Roger died, he was considered important enough to the people of Britain for it to be announced on the news that ‘the man who invented the Mr. Men has died.’ Of stepping into his shoes, Adam says: “I think it was strangely cathartic, even though I was sitting at my dad’s desk and in his office, it gave me something to concentrate on.” His mum Christine had managed the business with Roger, while Adam took over the brand – creating new stories and characters. And in 2004, Christine sold the rights to the characters to Chorion for £28 million.
Adam, who has two children with his wife Annie, remains the public face of the franchise and continues to invent new characters. Now excitedly awaiting the new Mr. Men TV series and film, he is clearly delighted that the orange blob with long arms that became Mr. Tickle 55 years ago inspired an empire that is still expanding.
But, despite now having more than 90 characters to choose from, he doesn’t hesitate when it comes to picking a favourite. He says: “My favourite character is Mr Silly. I think he really epitomises my dad’s sense of humour. I always imagine that was my dad’s favourite character. And I also love the story. I think the story’s genius. It’s very funny.”
*This interview was taken from The History Hour with Max Pearson on the BBC World Service, available on BBC Sounds.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
