We're hosting Spot's Birthday Party in our Courtyard theatre from 5-6 March. While we're blowing up the balloons and wrapping the pressies, here's a little gift for you! Five fascinating facts about your favourite pup...

• Spot’s creator Eric Hill OBE was born in 1927, but it wasn’t until his son Christopher was born in 1976 that the artist and graphic designer started to make up stories about the adventures of a small puppy to read to him at bedtime.
• Eric used a flap to cover the pictures and noticed how much it amused Christopher. As a result, Where’s Spot? was the first book of its kind when it was published in 1980 and started a new publishing concept of ‘interactive books for babies’.
• Spot has been translated into over 60 languages including Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Korean and braille. The series has sold over 65 million books worldwide.
• Puffin (an imprint of Penguin Random House Children’s UK) continues to publish an extensive range of new Spot titles and formats every year while Penguin Ventures manages a successful licensing programme that includes infant clothes, plush and wooden toys, paper and audio products and a live events programme.
• Eric Hill was awarded an OBE for services to Children’s Literature in 2008. He passed away in 2014, aged 86, at his home in California, following a short illness.