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
Nottingham Daily Express Nottingham Daily Express The Nottingham Daily Express was a local newspaper published in Nottingham between 1860 and 1918. It was a radical, Liberal and strongly Nonconformist newspaper. It was published from 4 January 1860 to 6 April 1918. It continued as the "Nottingham Journal and Express" 8 April 1918 – 5 September 1953 (incorporating the long dormant copyright of the "Nottingham Journal" which had been purchased from William Bradshaw in 1887). It was amalgamated with the "Nottingham Guardian" and subsequently published as the "Guardian Journal". The "Nottingham Daily Express" was based in a building on Upper Parliament Street in Nottingham