Martin Handford

Martin Handford, English children's author and illustrator

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Born: September 27, 1956
Age in 2026: 70
Zodiac sign: Libra
Birth year: 1956

About Martin Handford

Martin Handford is a British children's author and illustrator from London who gained worldwide fame in the mid-1980s for his Where's Wally? book series. He created the album cover for The Vapors' 1981 album Magnets. Handford created a two-page spread that introduced "Wally", a world traveller and time travel aficionado dressed in a red and white striped shirt. Handford published his first Where's Wally? book in 1987 and earned a reputation for being a methodical and diligent worker.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Martin Handford timeline

1981He created the album cover for The Vapors' 1981 album Magnets.
1987Handford published his first Where's Wally? book in 1987 and earned a reputation for being a methodical and diligent worker.

The world when Martin Handford was born

Martin Handford was born in 1956. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1956

#1 song"Heartbreak Hotel" – Elvis Presley
Top movieAround the World in 80 Days
Top TV showI Love Lucy
Best-selling bookPeyton Place – Grace Metalious

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentDon Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series
Top headlineElvis Presley takes America by storm
Technology milestoneFirst transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
Defining fadElvis Presley mania
Notable inventionHard disk drive (IBM)
World population2.82 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
Also wonPhiladelphia Warriors (NBA)
U.S. population168.1M

1956 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Martin Handford's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1956	2026
Gas	$0.30	$3.45/gal
Average home	$11,700	$435,000
Average income	$6,500	$67,500
Minimum wage	$1.00	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.50	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	168.1M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.