The simple and humorous stories, with bold, brightly coloured illustrations, have sales of more than 85 million copies worldwide in 20 languages.

[1][4] By 1968, he was creative director of the Foote, Cone & Belding agency where he wrote slogans such as "Emigrate to Canada Dry (for the sake of your Scotch)".

[5] Originally wanting to become a cartoonist, in 1971, he created a successful series of characters used to promote Askit Powders on television (these were used from 1971 to 1994).

[8] After his death, his son, Adam, continued writing and drawing the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters with new stories (while signing the covers in his father's signature).

In April 2004, Hargreaves' widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men characters to the UK entertainment group Chorion, for £28 million.

The first of the Mr. Men characters was allegedly created when Hargreaves' son Adam, then aged 8, asked his father what a tickle looked like.