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50 free Mr. Men trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Mr. Men trivia quiz is for anyone who grew up with the little square books. It covers Roger Hargreaves — the Yorkshire ad man behind Askit's Miseries and a Canada Dry slogan — the famous story of his son asking what a tickle looks like, the six books published on launch day in 1971, the Little Miss series, Timbuctoo, and how Adam Hargreaves taught himself to draw his father's characters after 1988. It also digs into the characters themselves: Mr. Strong's eggs, Mr. Lazy's four-hour days in Sleepyland, Mr. Silly's red-leaved trees, Mr. Forgetful's mangled message, the only Mr. Man with ears, and Mr. Bump's job in the orchard, plus the TV adaptations narrated by Arthur Lowe, Pauline Collins and John Alderton and Simon Callow, the Sanrio takeover and the Doctor Who spin-offs. About a third of the questions are easy enough for a well-read eight-year-old; the rest will catch out the grown-ups. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's Mr. Men articles and the sources they cite, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who created the Mr. Men, first published in August 1971?
Roger Hargreaves
He wrote them as a side project while working as an advertising creative director; by 1976 he had quit the day job.
Q 02Which character was the very first Mr. Man, and the first book in the series?
Mr. Tickle
He is orange with extraordinarily long, bendy arms and a small blue hat, and spends the book tickling everyone he meets.
Q 03According to the famous (and disputed) story, the first Mr. Man was inspired by the author's son asking what?
What a tickle looks like
The son, Adam, was eight; a biographer later admitted the anecdote 'became too good to dispute'.
Q 04How many Mr. Men books were published on the launch day, 10 August 1971?
6
Tickle, Greedy, Happy, Nosey, Sneeze and Bump all arrived together.
Q 05The female counterpart series began in 1981 with which character?
Little Miss Bossy
The author created the Little Misses to appeal to his twin daughters and produced 21 of them himself.
Q 06What was the author's 1978 series in the same style but with animal characters called?
Timbuctoo
It never matched the Mr. Men, which had sold over 250 million copies in 28 countries by 2021.
Q 07The author's earlier ad characters The Miseries, precursors of the Mr. Men, promoted what?
Askit Powders
The commercials were titled 'Askit Fights the Miseries' and ran from 1971 all the way to 1994.
Q 08The creator of the Mr. Men was born in 1935 in which West Yorkshire town?
Cleckheaton
A commemorative plaque now marks the house on Halifax Road where he grew up.
Q 09Which ad slogan is credited to the Mr. Men's creator while at Foote, Cone & Belding?
Emigrate to Canada Dry
The full line was 'Emigrate to Canada Dry (for the sake of your Scotch)'.
Q 10The Mr. Men's creator died in 1988 of what?
A stroke
His son took over the books fifteen years later, but the covers still say 'by Roger Hargreaves'.
Q 11Which family member took over writing and illustrating the Mr. Men in 2003?
His son Adam
He initially found the series 'a bit clichéd', had worked as a dairyman, and said it took three years to learn to draw the characters.
Q 12Which three Mr. Men did Adam Hargreaves introduce in 2003 when he took over?
Mr. Cool, Mr. Rude and Mr. Good
They came with Little Miss Scary, Little Miss Bad and Little Miss Whoops.
Q 13Which Mr. Man was created by an eight-year-old girl who won a 30th-anniversary Sunday Times contest?
Mr. Cheeky
Q 21The illustrations in the original books were drawn with what?
A Magic Marker
Each book has 16 to 18 text pages and 15 to 17 colour pictures, in a 14 cm by 12.6 cm paperback.
Q 22Which actor narrated and voiced the original 1974 BBC animated series The Mister Men?
Arthur Lowe
The Dad's Army star used regional accents for some characters; Tony Hymas wrote the theme.
Q 23Which married couple voiced the 1983 BBC Little Miss series?
Pauline Collins and John Alderton
The episodes were paired with reruns of The Mister Men under the title Little Misses and the Mister Men.
Gemma Almond's character got his own book, sold only in W H Smith with proceeds to a leukaemia charity.
Q 14In 2004, the rights to the Mr. Men were sold to the entertainment group Chorion for how much?
£28 million
Chorion later went into administration and the characters passed to Sanrio in 2011.
Q 15Which Japanese company, creator of Hello Kitty, acquired the Mr. Men and Little Miss rights in 2011?
Sanrio
It was the first third-party character the company had licensed since Osamu Tezuka's Unico in the late 1970s.
Q 16The first Little Miss based on a real person, made as a fashion-show invitation in 2006, honoured whom?
Stella McCartney
Little Miss Stella was a limited edition of 1,000 copies.
Q 17Adam Hargreaves's 2017 Mr. Men-style series was based on which BBC show?
Doctor Who
Editions based on the Spice Girls followed in 2019.
Q 18As of 2021, roughly how many Mr. Men and Little Miss characters had featured in the series?
92
The 50th anniversary that year added Mr. Calm and Little Miss Brave by public vote.
Q 19The Mr. Men and Little Misses live in a fictional world called what?
Misterland
Ordinary humans like shopkeepers and postmen live there too, along with Walter the Worm.
Q 20If you line up all the Mr. Men books in order, what appears across the spines?
The words 'My Mr. Men library'
The Little Miss set spells 'My Little Miss library' with a flower instead.
Q 24The 2008–09 series The Mr. Men Show is set in which fictional town?
Dillydale
It was a sketch-and-song variety show made by Renegade Animation for Cartoon Network and Channel 5's Milkshake!.
Q 25Which actor narrated the UK version of The Mr. Men Show (2008)?
Simon Callow
In the US the narrator was Joey D'Auria, credited as Joseph J. Terry.
Q 26In The Mr. Men Show, Mr. Jelly was renamed what for American audiences?
Mr. Nervous
Mr. Fussy likewise became Mr. Persnickety in the US and Mr. Pernickety in the UK for the first season.
Q 27What colour is Mr. Bump?
Blue
Wrapped in bandages, he eventually finds the perfect job knocking apples out of Mr. Barley's trees.
Q 28Mr. Strong gets his strength from eating a great many of what?
Eggs
He puts out a farmer's cornfield fire by picking up a barn, filling it with water and pouring it on.
Q 29Which two Mr. Men turn up to clean Mr. Messy's house and give him his first ever bath?
Mr. Neat and Mr. Tidy
Mr. Messy is a pink scribble with a nice smile; the bathroom had been the messiest room in the house.
Q 30Mr. Greedy's story teaches him a lesson when he is picked up by whom?
A giant
The giant makes him eat all the enormous food until he feels he will burst; his shape is officially a figure eight.