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 all the media titles in Desmond's Northern & Shell group, were excluded from the Press Complaints Commission after withholding payment. Lord Black, chairman of PressBof, the PCC's parent organisation, called this "a deeply regrettable decision". According to "Press Gazette", in December 2016 circulation figures showed gross sales of the "Daily Mail" were 1,491,264 compared to 391,626 for the "Daily Express". The full run of the "Daily Express" has been digitised and is available at UK Press Online. In September 2017, "Daily Mirror" publisher Trinity Mirror announced its interest in buying all of Express Newspapers from Desmond. The "Financial Times" called