| Roger Hargreaves |
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Charles Roger Hargreaves ( 1935 - September 12 , 1988 ) was a British author and illustrator of Children's Books , notably the '' Mr. Men '' and ''Little Miss'' series, intended for very young reading audiences. Hargreaves was born in Cleckheaton , Yorkshire, England to a laundryman. He spent a year working in the family business before starting out in advertising. His original ambition was to be a cartoonist, however, and in 1971 while he was working as the creative director at a London firm, he wrote the first ''Mr. Men'' book. He initially had difficulty finding a publisher, but once he did the books became an instant success, selling over one million copies within three years and spawning a BBC animated television series. By 1976, Hargreaves had quit his day job. Though he wrote many other children's stories, including the '' Timbuctoo '' series of twenty-five books, he is most known for his 43 ''Mr. Men'' books, and 30 ''Little Miss'' books, which were started in 1981. He and his wife, Christine, had four children: Adam , Giles, and twins Sophie and Amelia. The first of the Mr. Men was reportedly created when Adam asked him what a tickle looked like—Hargreaves drew a figure with a round orange body and long, rubbery arms that became Mr. Tickle, the first Mr. Men character to be published. After Hargreaves died of a sudden Stroke in 1988, Adam continued writing and drawing the ''Mr. Men'' and ''Little Miss'' characters in new stories. However, in April of 2004, Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men characters to the UK entertainment group, Chorion , for £ 28m. External links |