So I was doing farming and handling the Mr Men business straight after my dad died. My mum stayed there until about 1992 and then she sold the farm." He explains: "I felt quite strongly about it, especially when I first started writing the stories. I felt they were my dad's. Since the 1990s when I first started writing the books, his name has become part of the brand. Now it's a dual thing – me, for not wanting to take credit for the idea, and also it's part of the brand strength. While Michael Bond’s Paddington is currently celebrating its heritage at the British Library, the Museum of Brands in West London’s Notting Hill is hosting the “Mr Men Little Miss 50th Anniversary” exhibition. There you can see some of the earliest licensed Mr Men products, from bubble baths to plastic radios to the somewhat ironic Mr Greedy low-fat strawberry yogurt.

Mr Men made their millions - New Statesman How the Mr Men made their millions - New Statesman

Yet plenty of Mr Men merchandise isn’t aimed at children – in recent years there’s been everything from Mr Grumpy tea towels to 2019’s four Spice Girls stories about Little Misses Ginger, Baby, Scary and Sporty (Exley admits that Adam didn’t know who the pop group were before drawing their characters). A 2018 study by Farshore titled “Media Use and Attitudes” found 51 per cent of those who bought Mr Men books in 2017 did so because of “fond memories of reading them as children”. There is an enormous nostalgia market for the brand, which blossomed when the entertainment group Chorion bought the rights. He enjoyed the business side of it. The creation of a brand, as it were. As well as simple children's book idea." Charles Roger Hargreaves was an English author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for very young readers. He is Britain's third best-selling author, having sold more than 100 million books.This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Jude Exley is editorial director for the Brands & Licensing team at Farshore, the HarperCollins imprint that publishes the Mr Men books. She has edited the series for the past 20 years. Exley explains that the brand hasn’t been kept alive merely through merchandising, but by stories that place old characters in new scenarios (as in Mr Impossible and the Easter Egg Hunt in 2015, and Mr Men Little Miss Happy Diwali in 2020). She says the characters have to be updated often: “You have to think about how you make them still have that nostalgic appeal, but make them feel relevant to audiences today, so that can be quite a juggle.”

Mr. Tickle by Roger Hargreaves | Goodreads

Having studied art, Adam Hargreaves was persuaded to follow in his father's footsteps. He started creating new characters and stories – something he continues to this day for publishers Farshore. The Hargreaves family was hit by a devastating blow in September 1988. The Hargreaves' family home during the 1980s in Cowden. Picture: Knight Frank Brooker, Charlie (2 June 2014). "The Mr Men inhabit a godless universe. It's a brutal existence". The Guardian. My mum stayed at the farmhouse and I took over the management of the farm for a few years after he died," explains Adam. Fundamentally, I think two great things happened under Chorion,” says Ron Allen, executive vice-president of the television production and licensing company Silvergate Media, who worked on Mr Men while at Chorion (giant Mr Bump and Mr Greedy teddies used to sit in on meetings). First, the company launched a new television series, the Mr Men Show, in 2008 (there had been three previous series of Mr Men between the 1970s and 1990s), which Allen says grew the intellectual property (IP) globally. Second, Allen says he and his team helped the brand become “a vehicle for self-expression among young adults and teenagers”. Particularly popular were Little Miss Sunshine T-shirts, favoured by celebrities such as Britney Spears (Paris Hilton opted for Little Miss Christmas).

Many will remember the BBC TV show of the 1970s – voiced by Arthur Lowe, better known as portraying Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army – which seemed to form part of children's TV programming for years. During the 1970s my dad became a wealthy man," explains Adam. "And he enjoyed his success. One of those perks was a very nice house."

Mr. Tickle: 50th Anniversary Edition: The Brilliantly Funny

Little Miss Calamity · Little Miss Daredevil · Mr. Scatterbrain · Mr. Stubborn · Mr. Metal · Bunko the Monkey I think that sparked off a chain of thought in my dad, that you could personify a human emotion or characteristic," Adam explains.I still think it was the right decision," he says of the decision to sell. "I think for the Mr Men to be owned by one family without the kind of investment that a multi-national company has was going to mean Mr Men would dwindle to a degree and never quite reach its further potential in the future. That was one of the principle reasons for selling. Obviously we got a good offer as well.