Mary Tourtel was created in 1920, at a time when the "Express" was in competition with "The Daily Mail" and its then popular comic strip "Teddy Tail", as well as the strip "Pip, Squeak and Wilfred" in "The Daily Mirror". The then news editor of the "Express", Herbert Tourtel, was approached with the task of producing a new comic strip to rival those of the "Mail" and "Mirror" and immediately thought of his wife Mary, already an established author and artist. Rupert Bear was the result and was first published as a nameless character in a strip titled "Little Lost Bear" on
Daily Express apology could remedy it". The "Daily Express" has a reputation for printing conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales as front-page news, earning it the nickname the "Daily Ex-Princess"; this has been satirised in "Private Eye" as the "Diana Express" or the "Di'ly Express", and has been attributed to Desmond's friendship with regular "Eye" target Mohamed Fayed. In 2006 and 2007, these front-page stories consistently appeared on Mondays, and ended only when the paper focused instead on the Madeleine McCann story (see below). Even on 7 July 2006, the anniversary of the London bombings (used by most