This year marks the 50th birthday of Hello Kitty, but the character has become so ubiquitous over the years that it's easy to lose track of her true nature. Is she a cat, or a girl, or just ...

It’s 50 years since the creation of one of the world’s most recognisable characters, Hello Kitty. In 1974, a 24-year-old Japanese illustrator called Yuko Shimizu put pen to paper to draw the ...