Mr. Tickle
Mr. Tickle is the first book in the Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves.
The story was originally based on a question by his son, Adam Hargreaves, who asked what a tickle would look like.
Plot
Mr. Tickle's story begins with him in bed and making himself breakfast without getting up because of his "extraordinarily long arms". He then decides that it is a tickling sort of day and thus journeys around town tickling people – a teacher, a policeman, a greengrocer, a child, a station guard, a pilot, a doctor, a butcher and a postman. The book ends with a warning that Mr. Tickle could be lurking around your doorway, waiting to tickle you or your children.
It is a relatively unusual Mr Men book in that the main character gets up to some naughty behaviour, yet there is no corrective action taken to mend his mischievous ways; thus, Mr Tickle is left free to tickle another day and learns nothing from it.
Translations
Mr. Tickle appears under the titles:
| Translation | Language |
|---|---|
| Monsieur Chatouille | French |
| Don Cosquillas | Spanish |
| Mr. Goglais | Welsh |
| Unser Herr Killekille | German |
| Meneertje Kietel | Dutch |
| Ο Κύριος Γαργαλίτσας | Greek |
| 搔癢先生 | Taiwan |
| 간지럼씨 | Korean |
| Fætter Kilderik | Danish |
| Gubben Killekill | Swedish |
| Herr Kilefant | Norwegian |
| מר דגדוג | Hebrew |
| Mr. Csiki | Hungarian |
| Senhor Cócegas | Portuguese |
The Mr. Men Show
In the 2008 TV series The Mr. Men Show, Mr. Tickle remains relatively the same in looks, though his hat has a stripe and his arms are normally sized, but can stretch out when needed. However, he tickles other Mr. Men and Little Misses (due to the obvious absence of humans in Dillydale). As far as character traits go, he is still determined to tickle everyone he interacts with, but instead of doing it for mischief he does it to make people happy and will stop when nobody wants him to tickle them, save for when the opportunity knocks with Mr. Grumpy, who appears to be his favorite target. He also gets his own catchphrase, "Somebody needs a tickle!" In the US and UK Versions, he is voiced by Jeff Stewart and Rob Rackstraw.