“Miffy and Friends”: Children’s Characters

The American Peanuts comic strips depict the lives of a boy named Charlie Brown and his dog named Snoopy. Charles M. Schulz wrote and illustrated the comic from 1950 to 2000, drawing over 17,000 strips in total. By 1975, the comic was being published in over a thousand newspapers worldwide, including Britain’s Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and The Observer. Snoopy the beagle’s appearance and intelligence were inspired by Charles’ childhood dog, Spike.

Snoopy is easily recognisable all across the United States, from his regular appearances in the Thanksgiving Parade in New York to his very own star in Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. But it doesn’t stop there! His popularity is out of this world – NASA’s Apollo 10 spacecraft modules orbiting the moon were named after the boy and his dog.

From Japan, Hello Kitty is one of the Sanrio company’s earliest mascot characters, and her simple design and red bow make her one of their most recognisable. She was designed in 1974 by Yuko Shimizu to be featured on a vinyl coin purse, and the little white cat since been featured on clothing, cafes, jet planes and even theme parks.

Kitty White (Hello Kitty’s real name) was inspired by British culture, which was popular among young girls in Japan, and is now represents Japan’s kawaii (cute) culture across the world. Her design, without a visible mouth, allows her to “speak from the heart”.  This makes her the purr-fect choice to be UNICEF’s Children’s Ambassador in both the United States and Japan!

The Moomin family (Moomintroll himself, Moominpappa and Moominmamma) are fantasy hippopotamus-like creatures with round white bodies and large snouts, created by illustrator and author Tove Jannson from Finland. Jannson’s artist family inspired both her lifelong passion for art and several characters in her books. She also found inspiration in her life partner, Tuulikki, for the character Too-ticky.

Since the first Moomin novel was published in 1945, these ambiguous creatures have been steadily popular across Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. London’s The Evening News newspaper started publishing the Moomin comic strip in 1954, and the ITV network adapted the Polish stop-motion animation series into English in 1983. The edited UK version of the TV show features a fantastical and psychedelic soundtrack by two Leeds musicians, Steve Shill and Graeme Miller.

Britain’s best-beloved bear was found in London’s Paddington Station after escaping from a disaster in Peru, as Michael Bond’s story goes. A lonely-looking teddy on a store shelf at Christmas sparked Bond’s imagination to write the story of the bear in just ten days. He based Paddington’s history as a refugee on his own memories of children evacuating from their homes during World War II, suitcases in hand.

Recognisable by his red hat and blue duffel coat, Paddington has become a symbol of British kindness, acceptance, and culture. Since his debut in 1958, Paddington has appeared in books, movies, on 50p coins, in an M&S Christmas advert, and even with the late Queen Elizabeth II for her platinum jubilee (marking 70 years of her rule in 2022), joining her for tea and his favourite marmalade sandwiches.

The Little Prince is the title character of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novella, The Little Prince, known in French as Le Petit Prince. The book was originally published in both English and French in the United States in 1943, where the author lived in exile after Nazi Germany occupied his homeland of France.

Since then, the book has been published in over 600 languages, making it one of the most-translated literary works in history, second only to the Bible. The story has also been adapted into film, ballet and opera. The 1974 film adaptation featured music by Leeds-born composer Angela Morley, who became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Academy Award for her work on the score.