Sanrio's licensing offensive has so far netted such high-profile brands as pen-maker Parker, cosmetics manufacturers Shiseido and Kanebo, and even the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

Oscar-winning writer Tom Stoppard will pen the script and Atonement film-maker Joe Wright will direct the epic romance, based on Leo Tolstoy's novel.

BBC: Keira Knightley to play Anna Karenina in new film

Winston Churchill, Britain's leader during Word War II, looking back to his days as an imperial policy-maker, used to say he created Jordan with a stroke of the pen one Sunday afternoon.

BBC: Analysis: Jordan's precarious position