This week we celebrated what would have been Roger Hargreaves 76th birthday. Mr. Hargreaves was the creator of the “Mr. Men”(official site | collector’s site) series of books which many of us grew on. In his honor I dedicate this post of Fun Facts Friday.
1) Charles Roger Hargreaves (9 May 1935 – 11 September 1988) was born at a private hospital in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, England.
2) Roger Hargreaves always wanted to be a cartoonist and wrote his firs Mr. Men book, “Mr. Tickle, while working as a creative director for an advertising agency.
3) He had a difficult time finding a publisher, however once published the books were an instant success selling over one million copies in three years.
4) He published his first Mr. Men book in 1971, by 1976 he quit his day job. The Little Miss book series appeared in 1981.
5) Mr. Hargreaves wrote many other stories for children, including a series of 25 books called “Timbuctoo”.
6) By 1983 Lillte Miss was a TV show (Mr. Men had his own TV show prior) voiced by Upstairs, Downstairs actors John Alderton, and Pauline Collins.
7) Mr. and Mrs. Hargreaves had four children – Adam, Giles and twins Sophie and Amelia.
8 ) The first Mr. Men character was created when Adam asked his father what a tickle looked like – and Mr. Tickle was born
9) Little Miss Twins were dedicated to the Hargreaves’ twins.
10) After Mr. Hargreaves’ death, Adam continued drawing the characters until 2004 when he sold the rights to Mr. Men to the Chorion group for £28 million.
Zohar – Man of la Book
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
References:
Fun Facts about the Mr. Men and Little Miss
Roger Hargreaves
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I loved these books :)
Mr. Men and later Little Miss were some of my favorites growing up...LOVED them!! I also have loved sharing them with my daughter (my son never got into them) - she loves them too!
I never heard of Mr. Hargreaves till now. Thanks Zohar. Looks like I missed out as a kid. But Dr Seuss worked pretty well for me in any case.