Mr Benn

The first, Mr Benn Red Knight, was published in 1967, followed by three more; these became the basis for an animated television series of the same name originally transmitted by the BBC from 1971 to 1972.

Mr Benn, a man wearing a black lounge suit and bowler hat, leaves his house at 52 Festive Road, London, and visits a fancy-dress costume shop where he is invited by the moustachioed, fez-wearing shopkeeper to try on a particular outfit.

McKee had the house "next door" at 54 Festing Road, where residents installed an engraved paving slab in his honour on 26 November 2009.

[2][3] Mr Benn's adventures are available to buy in book-form: four were published originally, and further books in the 1990s were based on the television series.

He also becomes a barrow boy in a pearly suit and meets Mr Grubbly and his animal friends in the African jungle.

McKee wrote and animated (with Ian Lawless) thirteen Mr Benn episodes for the BBC between 1971 and 1972.

[10] McKee did not benefit financially to the extent he might have: "I signed a contract where I only got a one-off payment and no repeat fees, but I've done quite well from a number of other things and I'm still exhibiting paintings.

"[11] According to Mr Benn's Little Book of Life, very little of McKee's original artwork created for the television episodes exists today, as most of it was thrown into a rubbish skip in the 1970s.

After over thirty years, a brand new Mr Benn episode was screened for the first time on 1 January 2005, on Nick Jr. UK's evening block Noggin.

The series was voted the sixth most popular children's television programme in the 2001 Channel 4 poll 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows.

[18] The Financial Times observed that the ad followed a current trend in the UK of using nostalgic cartoon characters in adverts such as Lloyds Bank subsidiary, Halifax.

[19] In 2017, Turnbull & Asser launched 3 limited edition pocket squares featuring Mr Benn in a James Bond style, corresponding with an exhibition of original Mr Benn artworks at the Illustration Cupboard which at that time was next door in St James.

[21] Originally four different designs, the 2017 Westminster Attack caused the decision to not produce the final image of Mr Benn facing his adversaries outside the Houses of Parliament and next to the bridge in question.