LONDON -- He was the original toy boy. Now, he's 50 and exceedingly rich.
With a nod and a jingle of the bell on his tall blue hat, Noddy, the revered children's storybook character, celebrated his half-century this week.Some 4 million copies of author Enid Blyton's books about the small wooden man are still sold worldwide each year. And although sections have been rewritten to remove racist and sexist overtones, Noddy himself remains as fresh-faced as ever, unfazed by his success as he drives his bright red taxi around Toytown.
"Noddy's recipe for looking good is two boiled eggs for breakfast, a daily spin in his car, and a cup of cocoa at bedtime," said Claire McCormack, publicist for Enid Blyton Ltd., the company set up by the author to market Noddy.
It's also been a recipe for financial success.
In the past 50 years, the 24 tales of Noddy and his pals Big Ears and Mr. Plod have sold more than 200 million copies in 27 languages in countries from Australia and Japan to Iceland and South Africa. Countless TV films have been made of the stories, and other spinoffs include toys, clothing and CD-ROMs. Some industry estimates put annual sales of Noddy merchandise at close to $80 million in Britain alone.
But although Noddy is known to generations of European children, he only made his U.S. debut in 1998, with an acclaimed $8 million animated series on the public broadcasting channel PBS.
It was in 1949 that Blyton first dreamed up the characters who helped make her a successful children's book writer.
Based on watercolor images by Dutch illustrator Harmsen Van der Beek, the characters took the world by storm in the first book, "Noddy Goes to Toyland."
Today, French children read about Oui Oui, while their German counterparts are enthralled by tales about Purzelknirps. Icelandic children know our hero as Doddi.
But the fairy tale has had its problems.
The black-skinned Golliwogs -- Toytown's criminal element, who once even stole Noddy's car -- were removed in the 1970s after complaints of racism. They were replaced by goblins, but then complaints came in from Scandinavia that this was an insult to trolls.
Critics also have accused Blyton, who died in 1968, of sexism for not including any strong female characters. So in its 1992 animated series, the BBC introduced a character called Dinah Doll, who it described as a "black, assertive, ethnic minority female."
After failing in earlier attempts to introduce himself to the United States, Noddy is taking another big crack at the American market.
At a New York charity event in June, he was spotted having his picture taken with actor Jack Nicholson and "Friends" star Lisa Kudrow. And earlier this year, he was asked to ring the bell to launch the day's trading at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street.