Mr Benn creator David McKee has died aged 87 and we remember the Scottish roots of the much-loved BBC Children's show
David's publisher Andersen Press said the illustrator, whose granddad came from Fife and was a dock worker there, died surrounded by his family.
Devon-born David was also known for he books on Elmer, about tales of the titular Patchwork Elephant, and sold more than 10 million copies of his books around the world.
David sold cartoons to newspapers while at Plymouth College of Art and drew for Punch and Reader's Digest.
He started working on Mr Benn in 1965 and the first book, Red Knight, was published in 1967.
Andersen Press stated: "David died surrounded by his family, following a short illness in the South of France, where he has spent a lot of time in recent years.
"All at Andersen Press hope his spirit lives on for many more generations through his joyful, heartfelt stories."
Scotland was an important location for David who spent his early days here and wrote about some of them in Mr Benn.
David, said of his grandfather: "He came from Dunfermline and worked at Rosyth before he moved south. My dad spent his youth in Scotland, too.
"I remember stories of Scotland and, although I didn't use any of them directly, things that happened might have come from them.
"I wrote a Mr Benn comic strip for a couple of years. It was a weekly adventure and I think I put him in a kilt."
Mr Benn celebrated his 50th anniversary last year and although he was famous for his English gentleman bowler hat and stiff office suit, his jaunty theme tune was actually written by a Scot, Duncan Lamont.
Duncan who used to work in the shipyards in Greenock used the pseudonym Don Warren, and sadly passed away aged 87, in 2019.
He was a songwriter, composer, arranger, bandleader and saxophonist and left Greenock aged sixteen to go to Soho in the 1950s after winning a competition to join Kenny Graham's 'Afro Cubists'.
Duncan later worked with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, Count Basie and Paul McCartney and wrote a tune about Hollywood icon Fred Astaire.
He wrote the theme music for The Sweeney and David McKee's other TV series King Rollo and his son Duncan Jr followed him onto music.
Mr Benn's stories saw him leave a house at 52 Festive Road to go to a fancy dress shop where "As if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared".
The fez-wearing moustachioed owner would offer him an outfit to try and he'd go through a magic door and become a cowboy, spaceman, wizard or some other magical being.
He'd always help someone and there was always a strong moral message.
David said: "He was a Mr Everyman for me – anyone could associate with him, so I didn’t want to define him too much. Mr Benn is a good, correct gentleman, but I had no idea what job he’d have and I wanted to keep it that way. I wanted the feeling he could be someone you knew, or indeed could be you."
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