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 Building, London and "Evening Times" newspapers from 1980 to circa 2000, but has now been converted into flats. The building, the paper and its best remembered editor, Arthur Christiansen (who in reality had already relinquished the role), featured in the British science fiction film "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (1961), in which actors Edward Judd and Leo McKern have leading roles. The satirical magazine "Private Eye" invariably referred to the building, in the days when it was occupied by the "Daily Express", as 'The Black Lubyanka'. Daily Express Building, London The Daily Express Building (120 Fleet Street) is a Grade II*