As it turns out, Waldo, Wally and Walter are the same person, making it easier for Wally Watchers to catch up with the fellow. Waldo, it seems, also has the aliases Charlie, Holger, Valli, Willy, Hetti and Effy. He uses Charlie when in France, Holger in Denmark, Walter in Germany, Valli in Iceland, Willy in Norway, Hetti in Goa and Sri Lanka and Effy in Israel.

When Wally is in America, he goes by the name of Waldo.

Wally, Waldo, Walter, Charlie, Holger, Valli, Willy, Hetti and Effy – One and the Same

image source

In 1987, Martin Handford released the first Where’s Wally book in the UK. It was so popular that the character’s name was adapted for 28 countries in order to make the character more lovable to readers within that nation. So the next time you search for Wally, look out for his bulging pocket of passports.

Wally is a tall, thin character with a red and white striped shirt and hat. He wears glasses and carries a wooden walking stick. In the Where’s Wally books, the aim is to find Wally in a busy scene.

image source

An Example of a Where’s Waldo/Wally Illustration

image source

Where’s Wally Characters

In Handford’s first two books, Wally was the only character that needed to be found. More characters were added over the years and Wally also became forgetful, which meant that there were now more characters and new objects to be found in the busy, humorous illustrations.

Odlaw

Other characters include Odlaw (which is Waldo backwards). Odlaw is Wally’s arch-nemesis and he is dressed in yellow and black. Odlaw is presumably the evil character in the book, though he is never shown doing anything particularly spiteful in the pictures.

image source

Wizard Whitebeard

Wizard Whitebeard appeared in the third Where’s Wally book. He sent Wally on an adventure and now follows the stripey-shirted hero on his travels.

image source

Wanda, also known as Wenda

Wanda, aka Wenda, is Wally’s friend and she is dressed in a similar fashion to Wally.

image source

Woof

Wally’s dog Woof later became Wanda’s dog and in most illustrations, only his tail is seen. On the last page of “Where’s Waldo: The Wonder Book”, Woof is revealed in his entirety.

image source

Wally not only travels the world – he also travels through time. In the book; “Where’s Wally Now?” Wally goes to Ancient Egypt, the Stone Age, Ancient Rome and the future.

Wally in Animation

In 1991 an animated TV series called “Where’s Waldo?” was produced in America by DiC and CBS. The thirteen-episode series was created primarily for the American market and then translated, and Waldo’s name changed, for other countries around the world.

Intro Sequence to the US Where’s Waldo? Animated Series

United Kingdom version of the US Where’s Waldo Animated Series (7 min episode including UK intro)

Wally Humor

Wally has a huge amount of fan pages online, including Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Bebo. Visit http://www.findwally.co.uk for the UK and http://www.findwaldo.com for America. These sites include games and activities for each country.

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wheres-Waldo/28679644355

Myspace – http://www.myspace.com/cyfwaldo

Twitter – http://twitter.com/findwaldo

Bebo – http://www.bebo.com/findwally

The Where’s Wally series of books have inspired many pranks. A young Canadian artist, Melanie Cole, created a 16.5m long by 5.5m wide picture of Wally and placed it on a rooftop somewhere in Vancouver. She then challenged people to find Wally via Google Earth. The project gained a huge amount of media attention and has become a favorite Google Earth search around the world.

Google Earth Satellite Image of Waldo on a Rooftop, Somewhere in Vancouver.

image source

Melanie Cole at Work on Waldo

image source

Planning for the Where’s Waldo Installation – Creating a Scale Grid

image source

Where’s Wally Exorcist Prank

Another famous online prank for Where’s Wally is a Where’s Wally scene without Wally. The viewer becomes engrossed in the image, desperately searching for Wally when a screaming face from the movie “The Exorcist” comes on screen and makes a loud noise, startling the viewer. View the prank at the following link;

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/waldo

Two decades after the creation of the Where’s Wally/Waldo books, the challenge has not faded away. The series is still gaining popularity and is bound to be a source of interest for later generations.

Try to find Waldo: http://whereswaldo.com/fankit/graphics/IntlManOfLiterature/