Winston Churchill once touted Britain’s shipping industry as the envy of the civilised world. Self-styled Churchillian Boris Johnson offered up pink cartoon pig Peppa as a modern equivalent in a rambling speech to the CBI on Monday.
The value of mesmerising small children into quiet bliss is hard to quantify. But the prime minister made a valid point about the contribution of the UK’s creative industries.
Even so, Johnson’s quip lacks accuracy. Though born in the UK, Peppa Pig now resides in the US. Hasbro bought her owner Entertainment One in 2019. The purchaser is one of the largest toymakers in the world. That is a clue to the origin of most of Peppa’s revenues — before the pandemic these were expected to hit $2bn annually.