Charles Schulz, The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived.
Has anyone ever given consideration to the possibility that Charles Schulz was not just the least dangerous man in the world for fifty full years, but that he may well be responsible for putting smiles on the faces of more people, worldwide, than anyone else who has ever lived?
Think about it: From October of 1950, until his retirement brought on by failing health in December of 1999, he produced a daily cartoon strip, Peanuts, that was published in newspapers throughout the world. At it's peak, Peanuts was popular in over 70 countries, in more than 2,600 newspapers.
What that means is that, every morning (or evening, as the case may be), people would open up their papers to the comics section, read three or four panels (more, of course, on Sundays), and much, much, more often than not, smile, if not laugh.
His characters, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Linus & Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, etc., appeared in over 17,000 individual strips.
That's seventeen thousand smiles and laughs multiplied by what? Billions? As in, billions of smiling, laughing, happy people.
Phenomenal! And all he had was his pencil, some paper...and a wonderful imagination.