There’s been a lot of activity around Sesame Street on both sides of the pond in the last few days.

Over in the UK, licensing agent CPLG has inked a two-year DTR deal with Marks & Spencer, bringing the brand’s gang of classic characters to a line of nightwear, essentials, hosiery, daywear, swimwear, accessories and homewares. There will also be a toddler boys range in M & S’s 280 outlets that includes apparel, while the nightwear line will initially be carried in 150 locations, rising to 280 in winter 2010. The M&S website will also offer the full range, along with promoting it online as part of the M&S Character Shop.

Meanwhile, in the US, Sesame Workshop is getting involved with Google’s third-annual Doodle 4 Google competition, as VP of marketing services Karen Driscoll is one of 10 expert jurors on board. The contest invites kindergarten to grade 12 students to design their own Google doodle around the theme ‘If I Could Do Anything, I Would…’

The top-40 winning regional doodles will be featured in a national exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. Meanwhile, the National Winner will have the doodle displayed on Google’s homepage for one day. The winner will also take home a US$15,000 college scholarship, US$25,000 grant toward the establishment/improvement of their school computer lab, a trip to Google’s New York office for an event on May 26, 2010, a laptop computer, a Wacom digital design tablet and a t-shirt printed with the winning doodle.

For more information, check out www.google.com/doodle4google.