Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson, CH, KCVO, RA, RDI (President of The Royal Academy of Arts 1976-1984) mentored Malou while she studied Illustration and Graphic Design at Chelsea College of Art.
"The Wot-a-Lots" was the initial family name Malou gave to her little tribe of characters and their world she had created, renaming them "The Beeps" some years later.
Malou spent most of her childhood in Newcastle Upon-Tyne.