How british is the franchise "Mr. Men and Little Miss"?

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R0gu3tr4d3r@reddit

Very British. I grew up with them and so did my kids. They're really good, especially Mr Bump, Mr Happy and Mr Tickle.

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strattad@reddit

A special mention goes to the theme tune for the Little Miss series (1983) which goes HARD.

https://youtu.be/_j_aaS7Hv-Q?si=3b2sA1kzJR_x69wu

I had one episode on a Kids Bumper VHS in the 90s and I'm not even old enough to remember the series, yet it still sticks in my mind as a complete banger.

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ConsciousBother4047@reddit

I haven’t heard this since about 1995, and yet just your mention of it has me hearing it fresh as a daisy in my head. Total tune.

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fatguy19@reddit

Best theme tune was for 'arthur'

https://youtu.be/6JMj4R63dEw?si=-Hl0eh5SH78MDw14

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AffectionateAir2856@reddit

X-Men 1997 would like a word.

https://youtu.be/EkIlM0lYtT0?si=r74vaAx8lXknuKTb

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notmyusername1986@reddit

You're both wrong. The Lisa Lougheed version of Run With Us from The Raccoons takes the crown.

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OwlExpress2843@reddit

Mr Tickle scared me shitless, I think there’s a picture in the book of just his arms coming through a bedroom window and I had nightmares about it!

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SkullDump@reddit

Absolutely….just thinking if those books came out now and I’m sure Mr Tickle would be interpreted in a very different light today lol.

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Plane_Ad6816@reddit

I mean… Mr Bump sounds like a euphemism for cocaine.

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das6992@reddit

I reckon Mr Bump is the reason we have a big coke problem over here

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my family is a particular fan of mr forgetful, any time we see a sheep loose in the lane we have to excitedly let one another know (this is a far more common occurrence than coming across a goose asleep in the rain)

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Steenies@reddit

And growing up in South Africa they were very well known. I suspect most of the Anglosphere (excluding America) would be familiar

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monkeysinmypocket@reddit

The best bit about Mr Tickle is that he ends the book totally unrepentant and smug and ready to do it all aging tomorrow.

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Suspicious_Banana255@reddit

I had lots of the books as a kid, passed them on to my child and bought more. We love them. Yes, I'd say they are very well known and loved in the UK.

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PiemasterUK@reddit

I once shared the cover of Mr Uppity to an American audience and they were gobsmacked about how "overtly racist" it was.

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Sloblock777@reddit

Odd question. Roger Hagreaves, the creator of Mr Men, was British so by extension Mr Men is British too. It's like asking "how Belgian is Tintin".

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Oopsydaisy_tryagain@reddit

As a child, I collected the collection one by one! Displayed them in pride of place on my windowsill & got sooooo mad whenever anyone put one back out of order bc the spines said something when together (i cant remember what but google suggests “my mr men library”!) My grandma still has them in her attic I think!

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ArblemarchFruitbat@reddit

My 6 year old loves them so much I'm about to redecorate his bedroom in a Mr Tickle theme

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KirasStar@reddit

Absolutely. Every child knows the mr men and little miss series, though it isn’t say Mickey Mouse or Julia Donaldson levels of popular, they are still well within the zeitgeist.

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thunderbastard_@reddit

Idk who Julia Donaldson is but I’ve seen mr men everywhere since I was a little kid

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Jemima_puddledook678@reddit

The gruffalo, room on the broom, zog, the stickman. Most modern children will only be vaguely aware of the Mr Men, where they’ll all know Julia Donaldson books and watch them on telly at Christmas.

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AuroraDF@reddit

We have about 100 Mr men/little miss books in our school library and at least half of the Reception children go through a phase of several months where that is all they will borrow.

I never liked them. Too wordy.

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No_Bullfrog_6474@reddit

wordy is the point!!!

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AuroraDF@reddit

Doesn't mean I have to like them. Lol

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FranzLeFroggo@reddit

She wrote the guffalo

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thunderbastard_@reddit

I’d definitely think the mr men are more well known than the gruffalo

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Hamsternoir@reddit

It depends what age you are, those who were born in the 70s and 80s will know the Mr Men from the books and cartoons.

But think for those born this century and parents of them will be more likely to know the Gruffalo

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welshcake82@reddit

I grew up with Mr Men and my children were obsessed with Julia Donaldson’s books when they were younger. I hate reading Mr Men books to them but enjoyed the Donaldson ones- far easier and more rhythmic to read out loud.

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NLFG@reddit

My kids (11, 6) could recite Gruffalo, Stickman, Room on the Broom and Superworm off the top of their heads. They both like Mr Men. They LOVE Julia Donaldson.

(Also, Paperdolls is her best book)

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ot1smile@reddit

My mum’s a minor celebrity (more so in the 80s) but when we arranged a surprise 60th birthday for her and were contacting her old uni friends I was a little star struck to discover Julia Donaldson in her address book.

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Toxteth_OGradyy@reddit

That’s what they call him after he’s had too many beans.

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Ok_Anything_9871@reddit

If you don't have kids she may have escaped your notice, but Julia Donaldson has been an absolute powerhouse of pre-school children's books for the last 20 years or so. She wrote the Gruffalo and just hasn't stopped since. The BBC have been animating one of her books each Christmas for the last ten years or so.

I believe she has now outsold JK Rowling.

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ConfusedGrundstuck@reddit

She became an extremely popular author for children under 7 around 10 years ago.

Her work is pretty much inescapable in every daycare and kindergarten; and quite rightly, her stories are magic and whimsical with poetry that rivals Dr. Suess.

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KirasStar@reddit

As someone said she wrote the gruffalo, and every British parent in the last 15 years knows her. Her books are class to be fair, think my four year old has about 20 of them now.

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draoikat@reddit

I'm in my 40s and Canadian, they were popular here for sure. Was just talking about them the other day with my husband (who's British). I honestly can't remember if I knew the books were British when I was growing up or not, but somehow they definitely seem quite British to me.

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A-Tad-bit-MaDdd@reddit

My primary three teacher had a whole collection of those books. She'd call us to the mat at the front of the classroom and read them to us. Those were nice times. ☺️

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pineapplesaltwaffles@reddit

Well the author is English, not German so I guess it's not a huge surprise? I'm sure there are plenty of German authors not well known in the UK...

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SitamoiaRose@reddit

Technically, Judith Kerr (author of the Mog books) was German. She left Germany as a child - When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit tells of her journey to the UK with her family.

Others may be able to think of more but she is the best known children’s one I can think of instantly.

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JagoHazzard@reddit

‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ takes on a different meaning when you know that, although Kerr herself denied it.

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BugPsychological4836@reddit

i know of only one german author he did bad things

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Cult-Film-Fan-999@reddit

Who? Hitler? He was Austrian.

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MidlandPark@reddit

No, Fritzl. Oh wait, so was he

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Imaginary_Square5171@reddit

Yeah, nothing to do with the Germans.

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kilgore_trout1@reddit

Is it Günter Grass? It turned out that he was a bit of a Nazi back in the day. That’s often frowned upon.

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PistolPeteWearn@reddit

Geothe? I mean Faust is a bit light on belly laughs, but calling it a Bad Thing is a touch harsh

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mr-dirtybassist@reddit

Faust is awesome!

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jeanclaudebrowncloud@reddit

I'd like to see children's speed limit signs featuring a cartoonish depiction of Goethe.

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Cyberhaggis@reddit

"If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be." said Herr Mürrisch

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Delicious-Cut-7911@reddit

Roger Hargreaves was born in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, England.

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milly_nz@reddit

Not just the U.K. They are popular in my native NZ so I’m assuming also in Australia. Possibly other Anglo-speaking nations.

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LiqdPT@reddit

You know what's funny? I grew up seeing these in Canada 40+ years ago, though my friend that had them was from New Zealand... But I didn't realize they were a British thing.

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Any_Weird_8686@reddit

Pretty damn. I certainly grew up with them, both at home and at playgroups, and as far as I know, they're going as strong as ever.

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smoulderstoat@reddit

Very common here. The first book was published in 1971 so generations of kids have grown up with them. But it doesn't seem to have been adopted in other countries in the same way that, say, Paddington has (apparently the guy who did the voice of Paddington in the Ukrainian version went on to better things, for example). I'm not quite sure why that would be.

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HellbellyUK@reddit

Better than being Paddington? PSHAH!

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JacobAldridge@reddit

Paddington met the Queen! I highly doubt some Ukrainian voice actor is getting invitations to the White House or dinner with the NATO leaders!!

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tremynci@reddit

Well played, neighbour. 🤌👏

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Ok-Fondant2536@reddit (OP)

Paddington is at least known in Germany. Especially when the new movies have been released, the franchise gained more popularity. Paddington simply has a bigger demographic target and is not as abstract as Mister Men is. But who knows.

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JacobAldridge@reddit

Australian born (dual citizen) chiming in, and they were a core part of my 80s childhood. I had a Mr Men duvet cover from my earliest memories until I shipped off to boarding school at 13; I don’t recall the tv show at that time (though I’m sure I’ve seen some episodes subsequently) but I read most of the books many times over.

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Significant_Return_2@reddit

I grew up in the 70s. I knew all the Mr Men, but “Little Miss” hadn’t been created at that point.

Mr Sneeze was my favourite. But then, I used to suffer with hay fever back then.

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Mongladoid@reddit

When I was a little boy my dad said he’d buy me the entire set (at the time) of 46 books if I ate an entire pan of cold chip fat.

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Ok-Fondant2536@reddit (OP)

Did you?

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Mongladoid@reddit

I think I managed one spoonful and then realised it was not worth it

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Crivens999@reddit

I’m in my 50s. They were massive when I was a kid. I used to imagine Mr Bump having an adventure when I woke up from a nightmare. Helped me sleep. Still does if I have a particularly bad wake up…

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MapOfIllHealth@reddit

I didn’t realise how British they are until I recently started reading them again. My son loves them and we read them every night before bed since I bought the Mr Men box set for Xmas. It makes me very happy to hear him picking I’m some British expressions since he’s convinced he’s not half English.

Sadly I went to buy the Little Miss collection a few months later and discovered the equivalent version costs more than double what the Mr Men version does here in Australia. Make it make sense!

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Cantabulous_@reddit

Very popular, a childhood mainstay. Although my kid has the some of the books translated into German and French too, so they must be somewhat popular in those linguistic regions as well.

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dreamsonashelf@reddit

I don't know about nowadays because I don't have kids, but they were popular in France in the 80s/90s/00s.

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Livid_Painting2285@reddit

I grew up dirt poor but my brother and I both had the full set of Mr and Little Miss books. Think they were about £1 each so not too expensive for a treat. Was so fun trying to decide which one to pick next.

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No_Confidence_3264@reddit

I mentioned Mr Tickle to my American boyfriend once, he had no idea what I was talking about and had to show him a bunch of pictures of all the different ones. I also spoke about Little Miss Sunshine and he was thinking about the movie

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stinglikeameg@reddit

We have the box set and are reading them to my 4 year old at bed time. Our current favourite is Mr Rude and this gem of an insult:

"Fattyl You're supposed to take the food out of the fridge, not eat the fridge as well!".

He gets his comeuppance eventually but my little one really giggles at this!

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ComprehensiveAd8815@reddit

Very British and from the 1970s. This is right in the GenX comfort zone. My favourite was Mr Uppity … who I’ve just discovered has been rebranded as Mr fucking Snooty! WTAF!

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FoundationTiny321@reddit

They are available in France... My friends saw a copy of Madame en Retard on a recent trip to Paris and thought it was hilarious. I didn't because I can read French.

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Inkyyy98@reddit

My partner had a toy Mr Tickle who’s arms stretch out and then retract when you let go. That thirty year old toy is now our son’s. And he loves the Mr Men books we’ve got him

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MINKIN2@reddit

Just as British as the Thomas the Tank Engine, Postman Pat, and Danger Mouse. We all grew up with them.

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Maleficent-Leek2943@reddit

I’m 49 and absolutely grew up with them. We had a ton of the Mr. Men books (and a few of the Little Miss ones, too - those came a bit later though) and I used to watch the original 70s Mr. Men television show.

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Regular-Whereas-8053@reddit

Narrated by Arthur Lowe (Dad’s Army)

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crucible@reddit

“Don’t tell him, Pike”

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Nrysis@reddit

Yes, it has been a big part of childhood for a lot of British children.

Both the books (a great example of simple reading/storytelling for teaching reading), and also the cartoon and other media.

How far outside of the UK they have reached I don't know though.

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SentenceSwimming@reddit

As a kid in the nineties I remember being so envious of the kids who had the whole book series that spelled out Mr Men / Little Miss on the spines.

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mellonians@reddit

Yes. Very British and they're a great series of books. I would also recommend Julia Donaldson books for the young and Roald Dahl for older children.

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Joanna1604@reddit

I'm a child of the 80's and my Mum took me and my brother to see the Mr Men and Little Men at the theatre a few times. I have a very vivid memory of Mr Bump standing on stage. When I was at Uni people used to call me Little Miss Chatterbox. We all knew them.

I usher at that same theatre now and every so often I still think of Mr Bump!

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Admiral-snackbaa@reddit

I still have my collection from child hood….I’m now 52

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Lammtarra95@reddit

You see them in France; I've not done a Europe-wide survey.

Most people will recognise the Mr Men characters. Whether they were the defining characters of your childhood depends on how old you are (or how old your children are) because the dominant children's programmes changed with time.

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Ok-Fondant2536@reddit (OP)

It's no wonder you can also spot them in France – the french people take every piece of art they can find.

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Mongladoid@reddit

You should read The Monuments Men before you start throwing stones at the French for that particular crime

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Character-Egg-7107@reddit

We used to have a french copy of little miss late, it was called madame retarde or something very similar

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Wonderful_Falcon_318@reddit

I had Mr Bump, Mr Tickle, Mr Rush, Mr Greedy and Mr Bounce as a kid, I really liked the books, I must have read them dozens of times, there was a cartoon as well I think.

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StillJustJones@reddit

I’m 52 and they were HUGELY popular in my childhood.

Even now, I could almost recite word for word the antics of Mr Strong.

Much loved and incredibly recogniseable actor Arthur Lowe leant his vocal talents to the TV version.

I had quite the collection of books and I still love the fantastic bold colours and pop art imagery of Roger Hargreaves’ illustrations.

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ThatBlokeYouKnow@reddit

I have a cup that is bigger than a sports direct one that has Mr. Greedy on it. You can't get more British than that.

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Bon_BNBS@reddit

" Oh calamity!" (Mr Jelly)

"What?!" Roared Mr Uppity

My autistic son used to repeat those 2 lines constantly when he was about 2!

Love the Mr Men, I'm a bit old for the Little Miss books, they came later.

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Randomfinn@reddit

Very big in Canada in the 90s. Huge

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JK_UKA@reddit

The family sold off the rights to a company after the original author died and I guess they license the format very freely so that’s why it gets used in adverts and merch

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blindio10@reddit

sainsburys did yoghurts with them on about 4 decades ago so it's not a new thing

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AlessaDark@reddit

The family were all about the money when they were in charge anyway. Financial services company who wanted to use the characters in marketing did a big pitch to them appealing to their shared values and heritage but they literally just wanted to know how much.

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WeRW2020@reddit

They were as defining to my early childhood as Postman Pat, Thomas the Tank Engine and Sesame Street.

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MarvinArbit@reddit

Don't forget Fireman Sam !!

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Yes, over 50 and my Dad made me a clock of them when I was 3. Well it was his apprentice piece at Smiths.

But yes, we grew up with them in books and then cartoons.

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Ok-Fondant2536@reddit (OP)

That's what I call a dad – handcrafting something for his child. That's the proper old fashion way.

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Not exactly hand crafted. It was his apprentice piece when working at Smiths, the company who made among other things display panels for fighter planes. It was the scale-model to test processes for a mass-market watch. Sadly he changed it from original clock work to battery when I was about 10. Loudest tick tock ever.

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HistoryCat92@reddit

Massive when I was a child and still on the list of classic book collections you’d buy a child. You can find them in schools too

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MarvinArbit@reddit

Aww dont be Mr Nosey, you will make Mr Happy like Mr Worry.

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Its-Axel_B@reddit

British enough. They have adverts and products and they often got referenced in other shows, particularly the more well known ones. Although, some of the books were written by French Authors Viviane Cohen, Colette David and Evelyne Lallemand when Roger died and before Adam took over. They are not credited though and are ghost writers.