An entertainments group that already owns the rights to Noddy now wants to buy another children's favourite - the Mister Men, created by a Cleckheaton-born author.

Chorion has been trying to clinch a multi-million-pound deal with the family of writer Roger Hargreaves who was born in the Spen town in 1935.

But the Hargreaves family are holding out and talks are running into the fifth month.

Mister Men have already been translated into 15 languages and an estimated 100 million of their books have been sold worldwide.

When Mr Hargreaves, who lived in Yorkshire until his early 20s, died in 1988 his son Adam, 39, took over the characters and began to write new stories with characters such as Mr Cool and Little Miss Scary.

Adam Hargreaves said he was not in a position to reveal what was happening in the talks with Chorion but made it clear a deal was not imminent.

"We will issue a statement when or if we ever reach a deal," he said. The children's characters could be on the verge of starting a new episode in their lives if the take-over talks, believed to be worth £25 million, are successful.

Chorion confirmed the company had been holding talks with the Hargreaves family but also said nothing had been agreed.

Chorion owns the rights to Enid Blyton's works, which were sold in 1998 by her Ben Rhydding-based daughter Gillian Baverstock. Last week the literary firm announced Blyton's most famous character Noddy was on his way to China to teach English to youngsters.

Last month Chorion revealed a six-fold jump in annual profits to £3.1 million - mainly thanks to expanding the Noddy brand worldwide.