Last Updated on 11 January 2009

It was 80 years ago today – November 19th – according to the story, Walt was on a train doodling on the back on an envelope and sketched the mouse called Mickey.

Walt was originally was going to call him Mortimer, but Walt’s wife Lily suggested Mickey instead.

Walt had a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit that he lost due to a poor contract with his distributor. Walt had to come up with a new idea – and quick – to keep the studio going.

While Walt may have sketched some ideas, the reality is that it was probably his artist, Ub Iwerks who came up with the new mouse creation.

One of Walt’s famous quotes, when he discussed the Disney empire was…

“Remember it was all started by a mouse.”

What signature product, service, feature, or character do YOU have in place that is sturdy enough to launch your empire?

Enjoy the Mickey Mouse history clip below…