The Railway Series and Thomas & Friends
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Authority control databases
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Christopher Awdry | |
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| Born | Christopher Vere Awdry 2 July 1940 |
| Nationality | English |
| Education | Worksop College |
| Occupation | Author |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Parent(s) | Wilbert Awdry (father) (deceased) Margaret Wale (mother) (deceased) |
| Relatives | Hilary Fortnam (sister) (deceased) Veronica Chambers (sister) |
Christopher Vere Awdry (born 2 July 1940)[1] is an English author known for his contributions to The Railway Series of books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, which was started by his father, the Rev. W. Awdry (1911-1997). He has also produced children's books based on a number of other railways, as well as non-fiction articles and books on heritage railways. He was born at Devizes, the family moving to Kings Norton, Birmingham when he was aged 5 months. Awdry was educated at Worksop College, a public school in North Nottinghamshire.
Christopher Awdry is in many ways responsible for the creation of Thomas and his railway, which started as a story told to him by his father during a bout of measles in 1942. When his father retired in 1972, he wrote several Thomas books himself. The series came to be called Thomas & Friends after that.[2]
In 2006 the current publishers, Egmont Books, decided to reprint the entire series in their original form; the fourteen books by Christopher were re-released at the beginning of August 2007.
The new interest from the publishers has gone beyond merely re-releasing the existing books. Christopher Awdry has written a new book for the series, titled Thomas and Victoria, which focuses on stories relating to the railway preservation movement. This, the forty-first book in the series, was released on 3 September 2007. In April 2010, Egmont Books confirmed that another Railway Series book, no 42 in the series, would be published in 2011.[3] The publication date was later confirmed as 4 July 2011, and the illustrator as Clive Spong.[4] It was published under the title Thomas and His Friends.
In 2001 Christopher Awdry wrote six stories featured in two books concerning railway safety, which were distributed to every primary school and library in the country. They were called: Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends / More Bad Days for Thomas and His Friends. The train operator Virgin Trains produced a colouring book for young passengers based on the stories.
A series of six books has been produced featuring locomotives from the Eastbourne Miniature Steam Railway, and illustrated by Marc Vyvyan-Jones.
