This was the question asked by a six year-old boy of his father, one morning in 1971 that inspired Roger Hargreaves to create a little orange man with a big toothy grin, a blue hat and extraordinarily long arms. And so, Mr. Tickle, the first of the Mr. Men, was born!
On August 10th 1971, six Mr. Men books were published:
The small, white square form at of Mr. Men and Little Miss storybooks were an instant success, selling more than one million copies in the first three years alone. From the books, the Mr. Men were later immortalised by the BBC in the 1970s in a TV series with legendary British actor Arthur Lowe as narrator.
Since the 1980s, the books, TV series and a weatlth of other products have become available all over the world. Today you can find the Mr. Men or Little Misses as clothing, DVDs, sweets, toys, toiletries, medical care, bags, novelty gifts, stationery, homeware, digital apps and more. A Mr. Men book is now sold every 2.5 seconds worldwide!
In 2011, as the characters celebrate their 40th anniversary, the affection felt for the assortment of diverse characters by the generations raised with these books is stronger than ever before. Mr. Men and Little Miss are so versatile, they appeal to everyone. It really is the world's biggest, brightest, funniest self expression brand.