Roger Hargreaves and his Mr. Men and Little Miss characters

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he apparently conceived of over 70 men and misses. what were or are your particular favourites?
http://www.mrsneeze.com/mrmen/

Mine are:
Mr Topsy-Turvy
Mr Muddle
Mr Wrong

― mr black pot, Friday, 30 April 2004 08:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr E.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 30 April 2004 08:58 (twenty-two years ago)

mr nonsense

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 30 April 2004 09:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr Bump, although Mr Tickle has his charms.

The books lose out by not being narrated by Arthur Lowe.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Friday, 30 April 2004 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, that classic intro music. Pom-pom-pa-pom pa-pom pa-POM pom pom Pom, pom pom Pom Pommmm...

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Friday, 30 April 2004 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Another vote for Mr. Bump.

My Dad got a pair of Mr. Happy slippers for Xmas a couple of years ago.

― robster (robster), Friday, 30 April 2004 09:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr Tickle, because I had a cuddly Mr Tickle doll when I was little. With very long arms.

― caitlin (caitlin), Friday, 30 April 2004 09:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Little Miss Naughty is so over because of poxy teenage clothes shops splatting her little purple mug all over t-shirts and that. "Ohohoo I'm so transgressive with this children's TV icon attached to my bosom!"

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Friday, 30 April 2004 09:42 (twenty-two years ago)

MR NOISY!!!!!!!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 30 April 2004 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

another for Mr. Bump.

he's got a good look.

― Robbie Lumsden (Wallace Stevens HQ), Friday, 30 April 2004 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I was once babysitting a friend of mine's toddler, who wanted me to read her a Mr Men book as a bedtime story. I asked her which one she wanted, and she kept shouting MISTER JIF! MISTER JIF!. I thought Roger Hargreaves must have started a new series based on household cleaning products, until I realised that she really meant Mr Mischief.

― C J (C J), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr Topsy-Turvey

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:15 (twenty-two years ago)

The only Mr Men episode I can remember is Mr Impossible coz of the tune - which still gets stuck in my head from time to time....Nothing is im-poss-ible no sir-ee, nothing is im-poss-ible, so sir not for me.....

― smee (smee), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:17 (twenty-two years ago)

were these a bigger deal in the UK than in the US?

this keeps making me think of 'the letter people'. anyone remember them?

http://www.buten.com/bobopolis/letter/

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr Sneeze was cool.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Messy and Little Miss Naughty were my favourites. I'm so predictable!

― Super-Kate (kate), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:52 (twenty-two years ago)

(I think Mr. Messy was the original Dirty Dronerock Boy. I mean, just look at his hair!)

― Super-Kate (kate), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr Mean, obviously.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:53 (twenty-two years ago)

As a child, did anyone have enough of the books to see what the picture was when you put them all spine by spine?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 30 April 2004 11:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I had them all when I was a child but they were stapled rather than bound, back then, so no.

― robster (robster), Friday, 30 April 2004 12:00 (twenty-two years ago)

No, but I think it said "this is my mr men collection" or something.

Either that or "like two gorillas in the jungle, making love"

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 30 April 2004 12:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Mr. Messy he looks like ground beef.

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Friday, 30 April 2004 12:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Stocks is in the news - he and the rest of the gang sell for 28 million pounds! Owned now by the same company who owns Noddy and Big Ears.

http://uk.news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Symbol=GB:COR&Feed=RTRIntl&Date=20040430&ID=3649081

― mr black pot, Friday, 30 April 2004 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr Messy and Mr Tall.

― Nellie (nellskies), Friday, 30 April 2004 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm pretty sure that "Mr. Topsy-Turvey" was where I first encountered the expression, "Or does he?" -- meant to cast suspicion on the statement immediately preceding it. This threw me for a major loop. I couldn't understand why that question was being asked, when the answer had just been given. I think mostly I didn't understand how "Or does he?" could be equivalent to "Or maybe he doesn't," since in the former, the negative element is implicit.

I spent a long time as a child trying to figure out the International Date Line, too.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

(Hmmm, or maybe it was Mr. Muddle or Mr. Wrong.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

the odyssey of Mr Bump is so beautifully tragic that i shed many a tear

last week

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 30 April 2004 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Love the gender stereotyping -- in the Little Miss series, there's Naughty, Giggles, Shy, and Ditzy.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Little Miss Trouble!!!!!

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

THERE WAS A TV SHOW?!!!?

― oops (Oops), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

It must've been a UK-only thing. Silly me, I didn't even realize the series was British until now.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Daydream

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:03 (twenty-two years ago)

jaymc we totally missed the opportunity to bond over this while in middle school

― oops (Oops), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Daydream

I was actually just musing over the possibility of using that as the name of my solo project.

xpost: Oops, I think by middle school I would've been over the Mr. Men books!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

They had those toys at (Arby's /Arbys / that place with the meat sandwiches that taste better than they look.)

― dean!dean!dean (deangulberry), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah but y'know, shared experiences.
tough i suppose middle school is the time when you get beat up for discussing such things.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.emcoairquality.co.uk/Mr%20Bump.jpg

Mr Bump was all about
humping your rump,
putting junk in your trunk,
attacking from the back

awwww yeah. Breakdown!

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Friday, 30 April 2004 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Impossible!
it's been my dj "handle" for like 6 years.
czech out eastvillageradio.com thursday nites 10pm-2am EST

― duke impossible, Friday, 30 April 2004 20:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember these books being hot property back in 1st grade.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Friday, 30 April 2004 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.mrsneeze.com/mrmen/graphics/littlemisstrouble.gif

Little Miss Trouble.

― luna (luna.c), Friday, 30 April 2004 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr Messy! I identify with his scribbly ol' head.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait, was there a TV show of these in the UK or something?

The books were big in the US starting in the late 80s, I think. Or at least that's when I noticed them -- they weren't a part of my childhood.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

we had 'em in the early 80s in michigan. Mr Funny was also one of my faves.

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Saturday, 1 May 2004 04:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I dislike Mr Men Books (or Meneertjes and Mervroutjes as they call it in Holland, I see the dutch version of the TV show every day at work), The formula is Mr/Miss interesting personality trait is getting along just fine, along come a wizard/banker/authority figure and says 'you must conform' and by the end of the book they do. a very sinister message to preach to children.

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 1 May 2004 04:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the converse is true: the writing celebrates and champions non-conformity, and every conclusion to the programme is set up as a tragedy, where the central character is shown truckling to the petty demands of the establishment. In fact, in the long run the characters never mellow - once they have been shown yielding abruptly at the end of an episode devoted to them, one feels the transformation has been cosmetic, staged and pragmatic - the characters automatically join the queue, waiting to return in a future episode, unreformed, unrehabilitated and defiantly exhibiting all the whimsicalness they did before ... Their idiosyncrasies are lasting - while their conformity is hysterically ephemeral, sticking two fingers up ... There's never been a book called the Erstwhile Mr. [Man] - Roger Hargreaves himself had a fetish for difference, and knew that many of us find difference attractive; his unceasing, monomaniacal portrayal of difference, and the associated hazards felt like a warning to me as a kid, and I doubt my response was atypical. Everyone loves a Mr. Die Hard before they conform in the same way as we find Calamity Jane far more exciting in the movie before she gets married.

― mr black pot, Saturday, 1 May 2004 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I was given "Little Miss Brainy" by Archel for my birthday a couple of years ago. Mr Impossible is the one I remember most off the telly. He kicked a football so high it came down with snow on it!

When I was very young (and bored) I drew all of the Mr Men on a long strip of paper which my parents stuck up on my bedroom wall as a kind of frieze. I was so stupidly proud of it, and I wish I still had it.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 1 May 2004 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Dawson's Creek is the antitheses of the Mr. Men and Little Miss serializations.

― ow_sowing, Saturday, 1 May 2004 10:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I had an official Mr Men frieze, bought from a shop. I do not say this in a spirit of oneupmanship.

I am afraid I consider the Little Miss series an abomination. I am even suspicious of the later Mr Men characters. I am a bit of a Mr Men rockist.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 1 May 2004 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I may have wanted a proper Mr Men frieze and my parents probably would have disapproved of spending money in such a way, hence my forced creativity. It was fucking great though, and I don't even have any photos of it.

They (the Mr Men) would be an ideal starting point for the "draw something in MS Paint" threads.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 1 May 2004 10:53 (twenty-two years ago)

For a reason that is now a little hazy, I will always associate leap years with seeing a 1980 Mr Men calendar for sale in John Lewis in late 1979.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 1 May 2004 10:58 (twenty-two years ago)

seven years pass...

All over Google today.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 9 May 2011 14:52 (fifteen years ago)

any reason? is it an anniversary?

― Evil Eau (dog latin), Monday, 9 May 2011 14:54 (fifteen years ago)

Roger Hargreaves' 76th birthday, apparently.

― James Mitchell, Monday, 9 May 2011 14:55 (fifteen years ago)

I was very skeptical at first, but the Mr Men refresh/reboot/whatever, currently screening on Ch5 - http://www.channel5.com/shows/mr-men - to my daughter's delight, is really very good as these things go.

― Stevie T, Monday, 9 May 2011 14:57 (fifteen years ago)

no mention of Mr Uppity in this thread.

― Evil Eau (dog latin), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:02 (fifteen years ago)

these books contained a lax approach to english writing style iirc.

― Evil Eau (dog latin), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:07 (fifteen years ago)

In case anyone else didn't realise at first, there are lots of different Google images, so hit refresh a few times while you're there.

― russ conway's game of life (a passing spacecadet), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:10 (fifteen years ago)

Mr. Tickle was such a cunt.

― Evil Eau (dog latin), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:11 (fifteen years ago)

For years I thought Timbuktu was spelt Timbucktoo, because that iirc is how it is spelt in Mr. Impossible, and that people were just being zany spelling it otherwise.

Does that count as a lax approach to something or other?

― russ conway's game of life (a passing spacecadet), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:14 (fifteen years ago)

Timbuktu formerly also spelt Timbuctoo

― conrad, Monday, 9 May 2011 15:18 (fifteen years ago)

There was a Mr Men-style book series called Timbucktoo wasn't there?

― Evil Eau (dog latin), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:19 (fifteen years ago)

Timbuctoo

― conrad, Monday, 9 May 2011 15:19 (fifteen years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuctoo a here - Hargreaves' other project.

― Evil Eau (dog latin), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:20 (fifteen years ago)

I remember getting the 1978 Timbuctoo annual for Christmas, though only Mr Trumpet is the only character that sticks in my mind.

Anyway, Mr. Impossible was my favourite, though I don't recall his Southern US accent!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GnOh8Dipoc

― Hippocratic Oaf (DavidM), Monday, 9 May 2011 15:36 (fifteen years ago)

i enjoyed these amazon book reviews of the mr men.

― joe, Monday, 9 May 2011 15:52 (fifteen years ago)

i have a letter from mr hargreaves with an original drawing i got after writing to him when i was small (very small; i hadn't realized he died in 1988), though sadly i have no idea where it currently is.

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 9 May 2011 19:35 (fifteen years ago)

Those Amazon reviews!

― Evil Eau (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 May 2011 10:56 (fifteen years ago)

years ago mad magazine did a parody of the mr men and 'mr halitosis' has stuck in my mind ever since

― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 10 May 2011 11:01 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

1. nostalgia on another thread made me bump this, I am surprised I hadn't posted to it before
2. classic luna post

― Ima R.A.E.D. (DJP), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 19:04 (thirteen years ago)

When I was little my Dad and I would draw Mr Men together in my big scrapbook, using the guide on the back of the books.

Mr Happy was my favorite because he looked like the sun.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 19:08 (thirteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

Mr Funny was the GOAT

― Morning Dew key (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 31 December 2025 18:54 (five months ago)

Mr Bump tho

― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 31 December 2025 20:21 (five months ago)

Surprised I never posted itt, grew up with and loved the Mr. Men books. Hard to pick a favorite, but I'll give a shout to Mr. Wrong.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 31 December 2025 20:34 (five months ago)

oh good pick!

― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 31 December 2025 21:30 (five months ago)

I like his flowerpot hat.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 31 December 2025 21:57 (five months ago)

the mismatched gloves are very New Wave

― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 31 December 2025 22:55 (five months ago)

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