Happy Birthday, Mr Men – Brian Maye on the 50th anniversary of a children’s classic

Mr Tickle, Mr Greedy, Mr Happy, Mr Nosey, Mr Sneeze and Mr Bump are all 50 years old this month. They were the first six titles in the enormously successful children's "Mr Men" book series, conceived, written and illustrated by the English author Roger Hargreaves.

Their brightly coloured, boldly drawn illustrations and humorous stories with a simple moral have appealed to children worldwide and they have sold millions of copies in several languages.

Yorkshire-born Hargreaves, who worked in advertising but always wanted to be a cartoonist, is said to have come up with the idea when his six-year-old son, Adam, asked him what a tickle looked like.

In response, he drew a figure with a round orange body and long, bendy, rubbery arms.

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Thus was born Mr Tickle, whose long arms stretched and stretched, so that if readers felt in any way ticklish, they had to beware those long arms.

Although Hargreaves had difficulty finding a publisher at first, once he did, success came quickly. Within three years, sales of the books had reached one million.

BBC television produced an animated series based on the books in 1974, narrated by Arthur Lowe of Dad's Army fame, with a second series the following year. By then, Hargreaves was devoting himself full time to his Mr Men books.

Each character in the series has his or her dominant personality trait, which leads them into all sorts of situations

In 1981, he launched his "Little Miss" series of books, written for his twin daughters, Amelia and Sophie. Little Miss Bossy, Little Miss Naughty, Little Miss Neat and Little Miss Sunshine were four of 13 books published in the series in 1981. It too led to a BBC television series in 1983, narrated by Pauline Collins and her husband, John Alderton. By the time of his premature death from a stroke at the age of 53 on September 11th, 1988, Roger Hargreaves had produced 46 Mr Men and 33 Little Miss books.

His eldest child, Adam, took over the franchise following his father’s death. His training had been in agriculture (he planned to take up farming) and he said that it took him “years of trial and error” as he taught himself his father’s illustrating and narrative styles.

He also said that the books were so successful because of their humour but even more because they embodied “universal human emotions” and “a strong sense of morality”.

Each character in the series has his or her dominant personality trait, which leads them into all sorts of situations, some predictable, others less so, and each story conveys a simple moral lesson, but Adam Hargreaves’s comment regarding a strong sense of morality might create the wrong impression; the moral lessons are always conveyed in light-hearted ways – there is never any heavy moralising or browbeating.

That the characters have made parents laugh as well must have also greatly assisted the books' phenomenal sales

The books follow a uniform format and this has contributed to their appeal as well as the contents. They are small paperbacks, 14 cm x 12.6 cm in size. In addition to the cover or title page, there are 16 or 18 pages of text with colour illustrations on facing pages. The title size is always the same and when the name of the title character is too long to fit horizontally, it curves down at the side rather than being shortened as in, for example, Mr Impossible and Mr Chatterbox.

Roger Hargreaves's own favourite character was Mr Silly, which probably indicates that his primary purpose in devising the books was to make children laugh. That the characters have made parents laugh as well must have also greatly assisted the books' phenomenal sales.

Each of us probably has his or her favourite Mr Men or Little Miss character. My own would be Mr Happy – not that I resemble him more than any other character; in fact, I would have more in common with Mr Clumsy.

To date, there have been 54 Mr Men and 43 Little Miss books, as well as several special editions, such as The Mr Men on Holiday, The Mr Men Christmas, The Mr Men Sports Day and the Mr Men Cookbook. Some 250 million copies have been sold in more than 30 countries around the world, from Ireland to China, and translated into 17 languages.

Adam Hargreaves has said that his father saw the potential of the books from early on and was always ambitious about them. "But in terms of whether he thought it would have lasted for 50 years, I don't think he could have imagined that, half a century on," he added.

The books had an instant appeal to children and parents 50 years ago and that appeal is as strong as ever today.