Roger Hargreaves

Charles Roger Hargreaves (9 May 1935 – 11 September 1988), known as Roger Hargreaves, was an English author and illustrator of children's books. He is remembered for creating the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for young readers. The simple and humorous stories, with brightly coloured, boldly drawn illustrations have sales of over 85 million copies worldwide in 20 languages.^[1] The first title in the series, Mr. Tickle, was published in August 1971.^[2]

Birth[]

Charles Roger Hargreaves was born in a private hospital^[3] at 201 Bath Road, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, England on 9 May 1935 to Alfred Reginald Hargreaves and Ethel Mary Hargreaves. He grew up at 703 Halifax Road,^[3] Hartshead Moor, Cleckheaton, outside of which there now is a commemorative plaque.

Early life[]

Hargreaves attended Sowerby Bridge Grammar School (now Trinity Academy Sowerby Bridge).^[4] He then spent a year working in his father's laundry and dry-cleaning business before gaining employment in advertising.^[1][5] By 1968, he was creative director of the Foote, Cone & Belding agency where he wrote slogans such as "Emigrate to Canada Dry (for the sake of your Scotch)".^[2] Originally wanting to become a cartoonist, and in 1971 he created a successful series of characters used to promote Askit Powders on TV (these were used from 1971 to 1994).^[6]

Also in 1971, while working as the creative director at a London firm, he wrote the first Mr. Men book, Mr. Tickle. Initially he had difficulty finding a publisher, but once he did the books became an instant success, selling over one million copies within three years. In 1974^[7] the books spawned a BBC animated television series, narrated by Arthur Lowe. A second series the following year saw newer titles transmitted in double bill format with those from the first series.

By 1976, Hargreaves had quit his day job. In 1981 the Little Miss series of books was launched, and in 1983 it also was made into a television series, narrated by Pauline Collins, and her husband John Alderton. Although Hargreaves wrote many other children's stories—including the Timbuctoo series of 25 books, John Mouse and the Roundy and Squarey books—he is best known for his 46 Mr. Men and 33 Little Miss books.

Death[]

Between 1975 and 1982, Hargreaves lived with his family on Guernsey. Then they settled at Sussex House Farm near Cowden, Kent. Hargreaves died on 11 September 1988, at the age of 53, at the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Royal Tunbridge Wells, following a stroke. He was buried in Cowden, East Sussex. Locals say that there was not enough room in the grave yard at Cowden Church, but that he had already bought the adjacent field so that he, and others, could be laid to rest there.^[8] After his death, his son Adam continued writing and drawing the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters with new stories (while signing the covers in his father's signature). In April 2004, Hargreaves's widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men characters to the UK entertainment group Chorion, for £28 million.^[9] In December 2011, Chorion sold the Mr. Men brand and its associated merchandise business to Japan's Sanrio.^[10]

On 4 March 2021, Hargreaves was posthumously awarded a gold Blue Peter badge.

Family[]

Hargreaves and his wife had four children: Adam, Giles and twins Sophie and Amelia. The first of the Mr. Men characters was reputedly created when Adam, then aged six, asked his father what a tickle looked like. Hargreaves drew a figure with a round orange body and long rubbery arms, which became Mr. Tickle. He recalls that his father was 6 ft 5in (1.96 m) tall.^[11] The book Little Miss Twins was written for Hargreaves' twin daughters. According to John Malam, who wrote Roger Hargreaves entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the account of his son's query being the inspiration "is apocryphal" and Hargreaves initial creations resulted from doodling at work.^[2]

Series by Roger Hargreaves[]

• Mr. Men
• Little Miss
• Walter Worm
• John Mouse
• Albert Elephant, Count Worm and Grandfather Clock
• I am...
• Timbuctoo
• Hippo Potto and Mouse
• Easy Peasy People (also by Gray Jolliffe)
• Roundy and Squarey

Appears in other books[]

Some Mr. Men books have Hargreaves drawn in them. He appears in:

• Mr. Small
• Little Miss Star

Legacy[]

Google celebrated what would have been his 76th birthday, 9 May 2011, with a series of 16 Google Doodles on its global homepage.^[12]

See also[]

• Mr. Men, one of the creations by Roger Hargreaves
• Adam Hargreaves, Roger Hargreaves' son
• Timbuctoo, one of the creations by Roger Hargreaves

References[]

External links[]

• Official website