The Mr Men celebrate their 40th birthday today. No doubt Mr Happy will be the life of the party, Mr Greedy will devour the sausage rolls before anyone else gets a look in, and Mr Chatterbox will be collecting some fresh ‘supplies’ from Mr Snow. (DISCLAIMER: there is almost definitely no cocaine-abuse subtext in Mr Men, we’re just being silly)

Roger Hargreaves created the first character, Mr Tickle, after his 6-year-old son asked “Daddy, what does a tickle look like?” The picture he drew went on to launch what has grown into a series of 49 Mr Men books and 36 Little Miss stories. Since then, the series has been translated into 15 languages and sold 120 million copies worldwide.

Roger Hargreaves died in 1988, aged just 53, after suffering a stroke. His son, Adam (now 47) continued the series after his father’s death, and said “It is truly incredible that something so personal to my father went on to become such a global phenomenon…If he were alive today, I think he would be ecstatic to see how popular his creations have become.” Roger Hargreaves is the third highest selling British author of the last decade, behind only Dan Brown and JK Rowling.

There’s definitely something timeless about the Mr Men and Little Miss characters, and we still can’t get enough of them. If you or your kids are Mr Men fans too, be sure to check out our Mr Men t-shirts.