And I mean I never doubt anybody's record.

I love to smile.

I always think it's because of you know hard work, hard training. And if Susie's training hard, you know, why can't I train hard to get a world record. I'm doing the same thing.

Well concerning the world records that I did, I think it helps a lot to me, yeah. I think it's a very individual thing because I heard some people say, like, oh I don't like it at all. But I definitely, for me it really made a big difference.

Yeah, that's what kind of, we get the idea a little bit yeah, because other people from different countries also try as hard as they can to get a medal or a gold medal in the Olympic Games. And you know, if they can work hard, we can work hard as well.

Before he went to sleep, I told him a little story about a rabbit we saw run around the beach house we rented.

But I don't sit down and think: this is meant for children.

But we discovered that, although I liked publishing, the commercial side meant nothing at all to me.

Each book first begins with a little idea.

I come from a family of business people, but I had the idea I wanted to become an artist.

I have been drawing all my life.

I thought it was amazing to work with authors, to get a manuscript and try to make up a cover for it.

I thought it would be very nice to become Picasso or Rembrandt, or a van Gogh.

I want a nice picture book with 12 pictures - I do my best with that format.

Miffy has changed quite a lot since the early books, although I never realised it at the time.

My father realised that for me to become a publisher in his firm would have been the end of the firm!

Right at the beginning, I didn't know if Miffy was a boy or girl.

When I make a book, I make it for the child and not for the parent - no jokes in it for the parents!

I did about 2000 covers altogether, for all sorts of books - from Shakespeare to James Bond - and I always had the idea that I must give 100%, no matter who the author was.

Now, I had been drawing all this time - especially in France of course - so, when I came back, my father gave me the chance to do a cover for one of the books he published.