The origin of the Mr. Men phenomenon dates back to 1971 when author Roger Hargreaves was asked by his six-year-old son Adam: "Daddy, what does a tickle look like?" The subsequent illustration launched the range of diverse Mr. Men characters which have been translated into 15 languages globally. Mr. Men is such an international brand that Google paid tribute to the series earlier this year with 16 Mr. Men and Little Miss doodles on its global home page.
The Appeal of the Mr. Men Books
The sight of the orange Mr. Tickle with the Mrs. Incredible length arms tickling a schoolteacher is etched on the minds of many forty-somethings today. The enduring appeal of the books surely lies in their colourful simplicity and story telling aided by gentle humour. There may be more wackiness present in today's version of the Mr. Men on Channel Five, but when Arthur Lowe narrated the original stories on the BBC in 1975, it merely confirmed the magnetic qualities of these tales. Mr. Mean, Mr.Messy, Mr. Happy, Mr. Lazy, Mr. Funny and Mr. Rude may look a little strange but they are based on real life with a big dollop of imagination thrown in.
The Global Success of the Mr Men Series
Roger Hargreaves wrote well over 40 Mr. Men books and penned more than 30 Little Miss entries. An incredible 120 million books worldwide have now been sold, which works out at an average of one every two and a half seconds. Hargreaves, who died of a stroke in 1988 at the age of 53, is the third best selling author in the United Kingdom within the last decade, trumped only by Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Dan Brown, whose Da Vinci Code book was made into a film starring Tom Hanks. The Mr. Men books are now to be turned into a Hollywood movie by Twentieth Century Fox.
Mr Men 40th Anniversary and Little Miss Princess
Adam Hargreaves has revamped some of the characters his famous father drew to represent changes in society over the last 40 years. Little Miss Sunshine is now depicted as a peace-loving hippy for the 1970s while Mr. Greedy is drawn up as a 1980's banker resplendent in braces. Little Miss Chatterbox now has a handy mobile phone to talk into you, and Mr. Happy is a raver for the 1990's. Hargreaves also created a new character, Little Miss Princess, in time for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. No one can accuse the Mr. Men and Little Miss series of standing still.
For all of the franchising, merchandise and 21st century modernisation of the Mr. Men characters, it is the innocence of the original stories in their white pocket-sized covers that retain a glorious appeal for children and their families worldwide. As Adam Hargreaves told Sky News: "They are wonderful and simple and that's what my dad was striving for. Even the shape and the size of the books were designed so that a child could hold them."
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