Gill Evans, fiction publisher and editorial director, Walker Books:

“Jill’s Gymkhana series by Ruby Ferguson. Everything a girl longing for a pony could ever wish for. I’d love to see a programme of dolls/horses, figurines, apparel for girl and pony, posters, spin-offs…”

Vickie O’Malley, managing director of UK entertainment, CPLG:

“I was totally stumped on this one until I visited my mother last weekend and there on the bookshelf was one of my absolute favourites – The Little Grey Men by the curiously named BB (who was actually British naturalist Denys James Watkins-Pitchford), I loved this book and another of his called Down the Bright Stream - read them many times over.

“I’ve done a little bit of research and found five star reviews on Amazon and a BB Society with 400 members world-wide. There’s even licensing of a sort in the form of The Little Grey Men Trail in Brixworth Park, Northamptonshire – who knew?“



Mayur Pattni, managing director, Pattni Imaginations:

“Where's Wally? is and always will be a classic for me. I think there is some product out there but scope for plenty more and a some fun avenues that could be explored.”

Anna Hewitt, head of licensing, Coolabi:

“It will be an interesting exercise as the ones I can remember seem to have already been created into licensing programmes.

“I enjoyed reading Mr Men, Beatrix Potter, and Moomins and now I can relive Barbapappa with my daughter.

“Pippi Långstrump and other Astrid Lindgren books would possibly be my favourite – The books were not so big in the UK but strong in a few international countries. There is some licensing activity in some territories but plenty of scope for more.

“Not sure I should say more as if there was one in particular I’m not sure I would share it with the industry – wouldn’t we look to try and secure the rights.”

Mel Beer, head of licensing and content development, Harper Collins:

“Mog the Forgetful Cat is my favourite childhood book series and I'm delighted that HarperCollins have just been given the go-ahead to develop a merchandising programme for her. 

“We'll be looking at a dual-branded licensing strategy, targeting young girls (who are growing up with the books today) and a nostalgic/retro range targeting their mothers and young adults.“



Sandra Vauthier-Cellier, managing director, 4Kids:

“There are few that I can think about outside of the usual suspects such as Noddy, Club 5 and 7. I grew up with The adventures of Martine from the publisher Casterman which could be interesting to bring back as well as the first Japanese mangas/TV anime such as The Adventures of Candy (little girl), Goldorak/ Robo Grendizer or Glodrake (boys actions).

“But out of all, the book series that I loved when I was six to eight was from Donald J. Sobol who is an award-winning author of more than 65 children's books. His ‘Encyclopaedia Brown series, Boy Detective’ was first published in 1963 and hasn't been out of print since.

“In fact, it has been translated into over 12 languages around the world. Like Encyclopaedia Brown, Sobol and his wife Rose (also a children's author) live in Florida. In France, the translation of the book series was ‘Bobby-la-science’ who was a very clever boy detective who always solves mysteries.

“I would say that this series is the Agatha Christie/Hercule Poirot/Maigret for seven-year-old kids. If there was a licensing programme, they will need a TV show to support. I will be the first one to buy the books again.”


Bradley Caines, creative director, Withit:

“Not sure if any of the books I read as a kid would be suitable... But I think any book I did read is already a licence anyway. Though I did have a Mary Mungo and Midge book as well as a few Dick and Jane books, don't think they are licensed, there was Bod as well who I remember. I did have a lot of 'Wombles' stuff as well, but again that was relaunched a couple of years ago I think.


“I read comics mostly, Beano, Dandy, Whizzer and Chips etc.

“I did write my own stories, but I don't think anyone will publish those, such as ‘Vince Victory fights the Space Gluts’ and ‘Vince Victory and the Giant Fleas’ but that's a whole other thing.”



Karen Bendy, co-founder, Over The Moon:

“My favourite book as a child was one that  my father brought back from his travels called ‘Jorinda and Joringel’.  It is by the Grimm brothers and has the most beautiful illustrations which inspired me to become an artist. It is about a witch that turns young people into exotic birds and keeps them in cages in a castle, which even as a child seemed to me to have a deep, dark meaning. 

“I remember it capturing my imagination and scaring me a bit, which is what I think children love. I think this and other tales by them would make a fantastic licensing programme, maybe to re-tell the stories in picture books, art and even tv.”

Adam Bass, founder and director, Golden Goose:

“I quite like Bing Paint Day Bunny - good strong character causing chaos that children love, but they might be too late to do licensing because Microsoft have already registered the domain as a search engine.”

Kirsty Guthrie, managing director, KJG:

“My favourites were all the classics and the original books from Ladybird Books. I loved reading them and looking at the pictures. Little Red Riding Hood was one of my favourites but the big bad wolf pictures always scared me. 

“I know some gift companies have developed some fun products using the old retro original imagery. I also loved the Famous 5, Nancy Drew and the Chalet School. These could be fab for licensing and are in my opinion unexploited in this genre.”

Rob Corney, managing director, Bulldog Licensing:

“I can remember reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy in the summer after leaving junior school and was really disappointed at the time that there were no toys available – the only thing you could get was a text-based computer game for the Spectrum 48k which didn’t really cut it. It was fantastic to see the Peter Jackson re-make and the related licensing lines bringing these modern legends to another generation.”