I was just reading some Sherlock Holmes, and in an introduction, it was said that the New York Times lauded Holmes as "the most widely known character in English fiction since Pickwick." No date on that, unfortunately. Don't even know if it meant fiction by an English author or fiction in the English language. But it surprised me. Pickwick?
What would you say would be the most widely known character? If it had been the time of Arthur Conan Doyle's death in 1930, I might have guessed David Copperfield. These days, I would have to say, sadly, Harry Potter. What do you think?