Horrid Henry began as a series of children's books by Francesca Simon, first published in 1994, before becoming a long-running animated television series that began in 2006. Henry, a mischievous boy who hates school, rules and being told no, made complaining that life is not fair one of his signature reactions. Clips and remakes of his outbursts later spread through YouTube edits and soundboards, where fans isolate the whine for memes about homework, siblings and everyday disappointments, keeping the character familiar to a new online audience.