Children’s favourite locomotive hero Thomas the Tank Engine celebrates his 75th birthday today.
As part of the celebrations, Mattel, which owns the rights to the famous stories of the friendly locomotive, has released a series of photos of A-list celebrities voicing their parts for the recent Thomas film.
They also released cute photos of Prince Harry reading his favourite Thomas tales – The Royal Engine. These were taken earlier this year.
Thomas the Tank Engine stars
Included are former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, Hugh Bonneville, better known as Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, and Rosamund Pike, among many others.
Pike is set to play a new character, a royal engine called the Duchess of Loughborough in the series.
We’ve compiled a selection of the celebs as they all played their part voicing for the 2017 Thomas film, Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor. We’ve mixed in some pics of Prince Harry and even an animation shot of the Queen and Prince Charles as a boy.
The first Thomas & Friends book, about the lives of a steam locomotive and his friends was published on this day in 1945.
For a generation of children dazed and traumatised by years of a brutal World War II, it must have provided a welcome escape.
Hopefully, today’s children will also get some respite from the rigours of the COVID19 pandemic and enjoy the world’s best known loco for his 75th birthday.